Stocks post marginal weekly gains

KARACHI: The stock market commenced the trading week on a negative note mainly because of uncertainty over the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Arif Habib Ltd said the positive statement issued by the IMF’s director for the Middle East and Central Asian department about a staff-level agreement with Pakistan helped restore some confidence in the market.

Additionally, Pakistan received remittances of $2.5 billion in March, a seven-month high, which was mainly attributable to seasonal flows around Ramazan.

The rupee depreciated against the dollar by 0.09 per cent on a weekly basis and closed at 284.9.

As a result, the index of the representative shares closed at 40,206 points, up 155 points or 0.4pc from a week ago.

Sector-wise, positive contributions came from technology and communication (72 points), commercial banking (64 points), oil and gas exploration (48 points), food and personal care products (eight points) and cement (six points).

Sectors that contributed negatively to the index were miscellaneous (eight points), tobacco (eight points) and fertiliser (six points).

Scrip-wise, positive contributors were Systems Ltd (70 points), Engro Fertilisers Ltd (32 points), Meezan Bank Ltd (28 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (21 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (20 points).

Negative contributions came from Pakistan Services Ltd (48 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (24 points), Millat Tractors Ltd (15 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (15 points) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (nine points).

Foreign buying clocked in at $1.4 million versus a net purchase of $3.9m a week ago. Major buying was witnessed in “all other sectors” ($1.4m) and commercial banking ($0.6m). On the local front, selling was reported by mutual funds ($1m) and companies ($0.9m).

The average daily volume arrived at 84m shares, down 24pc from a week ago. The average value traded settled at $8m, down 28pc from the preceding week.

According to AKD Securities Ltd, the stock market is expected to remain range bound in the next week. Any positive development on the IMF front will likely propel share prices to new highs.

“In terms of sectoral picks, we continue to advocate companies that have dollar-denominated revenue streams with minimal dollar-denominated cost structures,” it said while referring to technology and exploration and production sectors.