Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market took a dip on Wednesday as well, following Tuesday’s slide of ~400pts, and fell by 129pts during the session. The benchmark index, however, came back strongly and went +518pts by close of session. Market closed +482pts. Buying activity was seen Cement, Autos, Steel and Banking sectors. During the session, CPI numbers were released as well, which were higher than street consensus, but couldn’t dent the buying activity much. Cement sector led the volumes with 62.8M shares, followed by Chemical (41.9M) and Banks (31.8M). Among scrips, UNITY led the table with 26.8M, followed by LOTCHEM (17.7M) and KEL (15.9M). The Index closed at 40,271pts as against 39,789pts showing an increase of 482pts (+1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+124pts), Cement (+69ps), O&GMCs (+53pts), E&P (+28pts) and Pharmaceuticals (+27pts). Volumes declined from 449mn shares to 393mn shares (-13% DoD). Average traded value increased by 2.2% to reach US$ 95mn as against 93mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, LOTCHEM, KEL, FFL and MLCF, which formed 22% of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively include PSO (+41pts), LUCK (+34pts), MCB (+32pts), UBL (+31pts) and DGKC (+17pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-18pts), KEL (-4pts), NATF (-4pts), NESTLE (-3pts), and HASCOL (-2pts).