Stocks eke out marginal gains amid political worries

Shares extended their overnight bearish trend on Thursday amid continuous uncertainty about macroeconomic indicators and rising political tension.

According to Topline Securities, negative sentiments controlled the bourse during the first trading hours, compelling the KSE-100 index to make an intraday low of 590 points or 1.38 per cent.

However, value hunting began afterwards and helped the benchmark index close at a higher level. The KSE-100 index settled at 42,898.44 points, up 35.29 points or 0.08pc from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 16pc 284.5 million shares while the traded value went down 18.2pc to $40.7m on a day-on-day basis. Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Treet Corporation Ltd (27.62m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (18.89m shares), Telecard Ltd (16.85m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (16.44m shares) and Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (15.9m shares).

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included cement (56.32 points), chemical (25.57 points), refinery (15.93 points), oil and gas marketing (15.45 points) and technology and communication (14.91points).

Shares contributing most positively to the index included Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (21.6 points), Pakistan State Oil Company

Ltd (17.64 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (14.8 points), Pioneer Cement Ltd (11.63 points) and D.G. Khan Cement Company Ltd (10.96 points).

Stocks that contributed most negatively to the index included United Bank Ltd (26.36 points), Engro Fertilisers Ltd (17.42 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (17.42 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (15.14 points) and Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (14.32 points).

Shares that registered the largest increases in percentage terms were Pioneer Cement Ltd (7.5pc), Unity Foods Ltd (4.14pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (3.95pc), Highnoon Laboratories Ltd (3.77pc) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (3.61pc). Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.61m.

"Going forward, we recommend investors to avail any dips as a buying opportunity in cement, banking and energy exploration and production sectors," said JS Global in a market note.

In less than a decade, financial technology has permanently transformed the financial services sector. Challenging the monopoly once held by large banks, fintech startups now have the potential to become established brands. Mahmood Shamsher Ali, Alif Bank's country representative in Pakistan, outlines why Pakistan is prime for a fintech revolution.

Last year, investors pumped more than $200 billion into start-ups en scale-ups active in the world of financial technology, almost $90 billion more than the year previous

While this is a positive development for the sector, we should not let this overlook the role of fintech in digitally empowering populations who have not yet had access to new generations of banking technologies. Pakistan offers exciting opportunities in this regard.

Pakistan is an emerging economy at a critical stage of its economic modernisation. Annual GDP growth is sitting above 4%, though concerns over inflation have led to calls for additional reforms and initiatives that put economic growth at the heart of the agenda. It is partly the reason why the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is looking to digital challenger banks as part of a long-term economic strategy.

To properly understand why Pakistan is ideally positioned for a fintech transformation, we need to first appreciate the country's financial landscape.