PSX gains 0.45% this week amid range-bound trading

KARACHI: The benchmark of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), KSE-100, gained 0.45% this week compared to last week’s session but remained below 79,000, according to an AHL report.

On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rose and 52 fell with KOHC (+10.0%), MARI (+1.31%) and BAFL (+2.11%) providing the biggest upside index contributions, according to AHL.

Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) rebalancing on September 20 should now start to come into focus where Pakistan will be moving from a secondary emerging market (EM) to a frontier market (FM) and the quantum of sell-side flows that can materialise. The outlook remains positive above 78,000 with expectations for moves towards 80,000 in the coming week, AHL said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) KSE 100 Index week-on-week gain can be attributed to consumer price index CPI inflation number for the month of August 2024 that clocked in at 9.6% year-on-year as compared to 11.1% in July 2024, according to Topline Securities.

Other major developments during the week were Pakistan’s trade deficit for the month of August 2024 clocking in at US$1.68 billion (down by 12% month-on-month) and the T-Bill auction where participation of Rs1.618 trillion was observed with the government raising Rs835 billion against a target of Rs700 billion and maturity of Rs385 billion; yields remained largely same, according to Topline Securities.

Average daily traded volume and value during the week stood at 675 million shares and Rs14.5 billion respectively at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

On Friday, range bound session was observed during the trading session as it traded between its intraday high of 391 points and intraday low of -54 points, to finally settle at 78,898 level, up by 0.04%, according to Topline Securities.

Major positive contributions to the index came from KOHC, MARI, BAFL, NBP and MCB, as they cumulatively added 42 points to the index, on the other hand, MEBL, ENGRO, FFC, HMB and NATF lost value to weigh down by 30 points. Traded volume and value for the day stood at 738 million shares and Rs12.8 billion respectively, according to Topline Securities.

Stocks closed higher led by second and third-tier scrips amid speculations over the SBP policy rate announcement on Sep 12, said Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Corp. SC ruling in favour of Govt in the NAB amendment case and upbeat data on exports surging by 14pc YoY in Aug’24 played a catalyst role in positive close, he said.