Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
First day after resumption of trading hours to Pre-COVID brought higher volumes, touching 468M shares which is slightly higher than what was observed on Thursday. This is the highest volume so far in CY20. Index also moved uni-directional, gaining 532pts during the session and closing at +445pts (unadjusted). Cement sector led the sentiment with MLCF realizing the most trading volumes in recent times. Majority of the cement sector scrips traded at and near upper circuits. Recently announced Housing Scheme has brightened the prospects for the Cement companies in addition to declining coal prices and increase in retail price / bag. Among O&GMCs, PSO and SSGC stood out with higher volumes and price appreciation. Similar bullish sentiment was observed in Steel sector, which saw ASTL and MUGHAL hitting upper circuits. Overall, Cement sector topped the volumes with 144.5M shares (30% of total traded volumes), followed by Technology (43.2M) and Engineering (34.2M).
Among scrips, PAEL (21.9M) and TRG (21.2M) followed MLCF with 76.4M shares. The Index closed at 36,619pts as against 36,190pts showing an increase of +428pts (+1.2% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance incudes Cement (+162pt), O&GMCs (+56pts), E&P (+50pts), Banks (+37pts) and Autos (+31pts).
