Bulls dominated the trade floor on Thursday as shares gained 800 points in intraday trade, which analysts attributed to “clarity on the formation of the new government” and the swearing in of MNAs. The KSE-100 index gained 873.38, or 1.37 per cent, to stand at 64,576.82 at 11:43am from the previous close of 63,703.44 points. It should be noted that after posting losses overnight, the stock market had resumed its upward drive on Wednesday due to political clarity and strong corporate results as investors opted to do some cherry-picking at attractive levels. Topline Securities Ltd said the equities remained bullish almost throughout the session thanks to further clarity with regards to formation of new government in the Centre. Speaking to media Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, attributed today’s rally to “foreign buying” coupled with “smooth transfer of power and formation of [new] government” which propelled equities. Awais Ashraf, director of research at Akseer research, echoed the same sentiments. He stated that today’s maiden session of the 16th National Assembly, where newly elected representatives were sworn in, provided “clarity on the formation of new government”.

Furthermore, he said investors’ optimism rose with the “anticipation of addressing economic concerns as top priority”. Shahab Farooq, director of research for Next Capital Limited, said that the market continued its positive momentum due to “the first session of the new National Assembly scheduled today”. Along with this, he said positive sentiments were also fueled with changes in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) frontier market index and MSCI frontier markets small cap index, which are “due to be effective from tomorrow”. He said that three Pakistani companies were added in the MSCI FM index and 19 companies were added to the MSCI FM small cap index. Farooq said that the MSCI provided critical tools and services for global investors. “One of those services is equity markets indexes. These are based on regions, countries, market sizes, liquidity” and more, he said. Topline Securities, in a note in November, had anticipated “some net flows” due to this adjustment.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)