Stocks gain on oil boost, circular debt hopes

Stocks closed higher on Wednesday, led by the oil sector, as investors expected the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to address economic and circular debt issues, dealers said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index gained 368.21 points or 0.57 percent to close at 64,822.43 points but failed to breach the 65,000 level, traders said. The KSE-30 index also increased by 154.60 points or 0.71 percent to 21,906.81 points.

“Stocks closed bullish led by the oil sector on investor speculations over government resolve to settle power sector circular debt,” said Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp.

He said the rupee recovery and expectation of no change in the central bank policy rate on Jan. 29 also supported the market sentiment.

Traded shares increased by 54 million shares to 479.982 million shares from 425.709 million shares. The trading value dropped to Rs22.501 billion from Rs24.995 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs9.483 trillion against Rs9.412 trillion. Out of 353 companies active in the session, 199 closed in green, 131 in red and 23 remained unchanged.

Analyst Naveed Nadeem at Topline Securities said the equity market experienced a positive trend throughout the day, reaching an intraday high of 65,063 points and a low of 64,461 points.

Muhammad Shuja Qureshi, an analyst at JS Research, advised investors to buy value stocks on any dips.

The highest increase was recorded in Attock Petroleum Limited, which rose by Rs28.81 to Rs412.88 per share, followed by Ibrahim Fibres Limited, which increased by Rs23 to Rs394 per share. A significant decline was noted in Nestle Pakistan Limited, which fell by Rs50 to Rs8,300 per share, followed by Pakistan Services Limited, which closed lower by Rs50 to Rs840 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd stated that the benchmark index demonstrated resilience, finding support at 64,000 points level this week and is poised to move towards 65,500 points level.

"The anticipation is for the market to achieve new all-time highs, especially in the lead-up to the general elections in February."

Significant contributors to index gains included OGDC (+6.86 percent), BAHL (+1.83 percent), and BAFL (+2.64 percent). Conversely, FFC (-1.35 percent), PSEL (-5.62 percent), and HUBC (-0.69 percent) were the notable drags on the index.

"As February approaches, it's worth noting that historically, this marks the start of a seasonally unfavourable time window for equities, extending into March," the brokerage said.

K-Electric Ltd. remained the volume leader with 67.844 million shares which closed lower by 4 paisas to Rs5.42 per share. Hascol Petrol followed it with 39.612 million shares, which closed higher by 89 paisas to Rs8.40 per share.

Other significant turnover stocks included Pak Petroleum, Oil & Gas Dev., WorldCall Telecom, Dewan Cement, Fauji Foods Ltd, Pak Elektron, P.T.C.L., and Pak Refinery.

A total of 311 companies recorded future shares, of which 164 increased, 139 decreased and 8 remained unchanged.