KARACHI: The benchmark index of the stock market crossed the 50,000-point barrier in the outgoing week after a gap of six years.

Arif Habib Ltd said the stock market maintained its bullish trend on the back of better economic indicators, peaked out interest and inflation rates, strong currency and robust corporate results.

On the economic front, the current account deficit for September amounted to $8 million, marking a significant 98 per cent decrease on a year-on-year basis.

Data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) indicated an uptick of 2.5pc in the output of the Large-Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) for August on an annual basis.

Furthermore, cut-off yields of three-, six- and 12-month government debt papers witnessed a decline of 30, 45 and 44 basis points, respectively, in the latest auction.

Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose by $67m to reach $7.7 billion on Oct 6. The rupee closed at 278.8 against the greenback after depreciating 0.42pc on a weekly basis.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 50,732 points after gaining 1,238 points or 2.5pc from a week ago.

Sector-wise, positive contributions came from commercial banking (290 points), fertiliser (174 points), power (159 points), cement (106 points) and exploration and production (98 points).

Meanwhile, sectors that contributed negatively were food and personal care products (seven points) and textile composite (five points).

Scrip-wise, positive contributors were the Hub Power Company Ltd (124 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (82 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (69 points), MCB Bank Ltd (62 points) and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (61 points).

Negative contributions came from Unity Foods Ltd (21 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (10 points), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (nine points), Millat Tractors Ltd (nine points) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (nine points).

Foreign buying clocked in at $2.3m versus a net purchase of $1.4m a week ago. Major buying was witnessed in commercial banks ($1.9m) and technology and communication ($0.9m). On the local front, selling was reported by banks ($3.9m) and mutual funds ($2.6m). The average daily volume arrived at 405m shares, up 8pc from a week ago. The average daily value traded settled at $45m, up 13pc from the preceding week.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2023