Stock Watch.

Summary

The government after managing the public expectation on Kashmir issue, finally came back in October to pursue its economic reform agenda which in fact is more important for the country. As such the first week of October saw brisk and positive activities on economic scene: NA passes bill to amend Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947; E-commerce policy approved by the Cabinet; Projects worth Rs.681 billion approved by National Economic Council; NAB won't pursue tax evasion cases assured by Chairman NAB; National security intrinsically linked to economy, said Army Chief to business community.

All the above translated into rise of KSE-100 Index by 3% Wow to cross 33,000 level. The volume increased by 106% WoW to 223 million shares. This is almost 12-month high volume. The market capitalization increased by Rs.145 billion to close at Rs.6,554 trillion.

Stocks on Monday close flat with rise of 8.04 point at 32,078.85, the volume rose to 166 million from 135 million of last Friday. K-Electric volume top the list with 56 million shares on the news of signing $50m loan pact.

On Tuesday the cement stocks kept the market upward with the volume of Maple Leaf and Fauji Cement were 12 and 15 million respectively as Cement exports 1QFY20 jumped to 11.5 percent. The Index gained 175.47 points to close at 32,254.32.

The cement stock kept the stock on rise on Wednesday as Index gained 109.02 to close at 32,363.35. The volume remained 181 million.

On Thursday the volume hit 11-month high of 324 million shares to gain 388.91 points to close at 32,752.26. The optimism was drawn as IMF first quarter seems to be achieved and the SBP Governor assumption that present IMF program to be the last.

The equities gained 281.06 points on Friday to close at 33,033.32. The Jamiat-Ulema -e-Islam (F) announced Azadi March towards Islamabad on October 27.

Participants/Activity

On average shares of 374 companies were traded. Of these 241 were gainers and 117 were losers and 16 remained unchanged.

Foreigners were net seller $4.7m during the week; companies were buyer by $2.94m, Banks were seller $4.13m; Mutual fund net seller $0.26m and individuals net buyers $4.39m.

Volume leaders during the week were: K-Electric Ltd 125m; Unity Foods Ltd 72m; Maple Leaf 58m; World Call Telecom 47m; Dost Steel Mills Ltd 27m; Fauji Cement XD 25m; TRG Pak Ltd and Bank of Punjab 21m each.

Triggers

* The FBR missed revenue collection...