Closing Bell: KSE 100 Index closes the week in positive; up by 0.24%

The KSE-100 index closed the week on a positive note in today’s session, the index has been taking a hammering for quite some time now amidst the ongoing Political and Economic instability in the country. The returns have been negative month on month for the months of June, July and August with some hefty losses, the highest month on month drop occurring in the last month. Index currently seems to be recovering after the news surfaced that FTSE is all set to include five of PSX listed companies into its Asia Pacific ex Japan Index from Monday. With slight recoveries in oil prices, rise in Gold prices, increasing tensions between US North Korea the markets continue to suffer due to lack of direction.

Governor SBP, Mr. Tariq Bajwa has said that recovery in exports that started in the second half of FY17 and continued in the current fiscal year bodes well for country’s economy. “Exports have shown positive growth during the last six months”, he elaborated adding, “In fact, during the last three months, exports have grown by 13.2 percent, which shows that the decline in exports seems to have finally reversed”. 

In the commodities market, with buoyant demand forecasts from International Energy Agency (IEA), Oil prices are all set to gains for the week. Prices were lower on Friday (today) on the North Korean tension but strong demand outlook have given a degree of positive momentum to the prices during the last fifteen days.

In other news, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and Former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday demanded all the necessary changes in the Pak-China FTA which is heavily tilted towards Beijing.

In the regional scenario, five additional stocks (MCB, SNGP, BAFL, MTL & THAL) from Pakistan are all set to be added in the FTSE Asia Pacific ex Japan Index from Monday next week. As the week closes, institutional buyers are increasing their position in value stocks, as market analysts expect the market to recover on the back of FTSE rebalancing.

In Corporate news, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Next Capital Ltd. (NEXT), Arif Habib Corp (AHCL) announced financial results for the six, half-year and twelve months period.

Both the companies performed within the expectations of the market analysts, OGDC reported an increase of 5.50 percent in Net Sales for the period whereas the Profit for the company increased by 6.4 percent. Whereas, PPL reported an increase of 46 percent in Net Sales for the period whereas the Profit for the company increased by 107 percent.

KSE-100 Index at the day gained a total of 103.62 points up by 0.24%, closing at 42787.19 points. Index Volume was 97.95 million shares, value of shares traded was PKR 11.58 billion with index low-high range of 422538.05 – 43014.42.