Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market traded in a narrow range on Monday between +131pts and -111pts closing the session +90pts. E&P, Banking scrips largely remained positive, whereas Cement, Fertilizer and Pharma stocks faced selling pressure. Diminishing prospects of a further rate cut caused investor to shift focus on other sectors. Monday’s release of CPI data, which came in line with street estimates (8.2% for the month of May 2020) hinted that there might not be any rate cut in near future. E&P sector got traction from an increase in international crude oil prices, which increased from the levels witnessed on Friday. Off board scrips, UNITY, TRG, HUMNL seemed to take pause today, whereas PAEL saw price gains, while trading near upper circuit. Technology stocks topped the volumes with 24.6M shares, followed by Cable (23.5M) and Banks (16.7M). Among scrips, PAEL posted highest volumes with 22.7M shares, followed by UNITY (14.2M) and FFL (11.4M). The Index closed at 34,022pts as against 33,931pts showing an increase of 90pts (+0.3% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+165pts), E&P (+50pts), Cement (-40pts), Power (-19pts), Insurance (-18pts), Inv Banks (-17pts), Food (-12pts).
