Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Following up the country ratings, Moody’s improved the rating for 5 Pakistan Banks as well, which caused the price gains in banking sector stocks in general, besides buying activity in cyclicals. News of increase in cement dispatches over the 5-month period also gave confidence to investors to invest in Cement as well as Steel sector.
The benchmark KSE100 index recorded highest traded value for CY2019 so far with US$ 129.6M. Traded volumes also crossed 500M mark again with majority in Cement sector (111.6M), followed by Banks (51.4M) and Power (36.6M). Among scrips, UNITY registered volumes of 35.2M shares followed by FCCL (34M) and MLCF (20.5M). The Index closed at 40,641pts as against 40,271pts showing an increase of 371pts (+0.9% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+105pts), E&P (+80pts), O&GMCs (+55pts), Cement (+54pts) and Fertilizer (+29pts).
Volumes increased significantly from 393.2mn shares to 507.5mn shares (+29.1% DoD). Average traded value also increased by 36% to reach US$ 129.6mn as against US$ 95.4mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, FCCL, MLCF, KEL and TRG, which formed 25% of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include PPL (+53pts), HBL (+42pts), PSO (+28pts), POL (+26pts) and NBP (+24pts).