Market watch: KSE-100 rallies on back of surge in global oil prices


KARACHI: Bullish momentum prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday as the KSE-100 index surged on the back of sharply higher crude prices and expectation of monetary easing in an announcement later in the day.

Trading kicked off on a positive note, however, selling pressure in early hours dragged the index into the red zone. Fortunately, recovery was quick as stocks in the oil and gas exploration sector jumped following a hike in global oil prices.

Brent crude surged 20% on Monday – the biggest gain since the 1991 Gulf War – after weekend drone attacks on two Saudi oil facilities halved output in the world’s top crude exporter

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 447.24 points, or 1.42%, to settle at 31,928.55 points.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market had a bullish momentum throughout the day, touching an intra-day high of 473 points, where the KSE-100 index closed at 31,928 points.

Major positive contribution came from the oil sector as international crude prices jumped after the attack on key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia disrupted about half of the kingdom’s oil production capacity, or 5% of the daily global oil supply. Pakistan Oilfields (+5%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+5%) and Pakistan Petroleum (+5%) contributed to the index’s gains.

The banking sector also enjoyed the upward trend where NBP (+5%), UBL (+3.8%), HBL (+2.2%) and MCB Bank (+1.4%) were the major gainers. DG Khan Cement (-1.4%) from the cement sector declared its FY19 results, announcing earnings per share of Rs3.67 and cash payout of Re1 per share.

On the news front, the State Bank was due to announce monetary policy later in the day. The analyst said the brokerage house expected the central bank to keep the policy rate unchanged.

“Furthermore, we recommend investors to adopt sell-on-strength strategy,” the analyst added.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 104.6 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 103.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.98 billion.

Shares of 345 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 184 stocks closed higher, 144 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

DG Khan Cement was the volume leader with 6.72 million shares, losing Rs0.68 to close at Rs47.13. It was followed by Oil and Gas Development Company with 6.71 million shares, gaining Rs5.88 to close at Rs125.79 and Hascol Petroleum with 5.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.16 to close at Rs24.37.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs960.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Benchmark index rises 1.3% to settle at 30,057.29

  • stock-market-kse-100-index-photo-afp-2-2-2-3-2-4-2-2-3-4-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-2-5-2-2-2-2-3-2-2Market watch: Bulls maintain control as index surges past 30,000 points

    Benchmark KSE-100 index advances 856.80 points to settle at 30,419.22

  • file-photo-a-man-monitors-an-electronic-board-displaying-stock-prices-at-the-karachi-stock-exchange-2-2-2-3-2-2Market watch: Bears return as Pakistan placed on enhanced monitoring list

    Benchmark index drops 534.43 points to settle at 31,350.02

    More in Business


    Original news : https://tribune.com.pk/story/2057898/2-market-watch-kse-100-rallies-back-surge-global-oil-prices/