Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market witnessed dull activity on Monday barely trading 100M shares, even lower than 118M shares observed on Friday. E&P, Fertilizer, Cement and OMCs bore selling pressure, and even Banking sector (barring HBL) faced selling pressure. News related to HBL’s irregularities in New York branch caused panic amongst investors, however, HBL did recover significantly post clarification by Management on the issue. The Stock, which has financial results due on February 19th, traded near upper circuit. Vanaspati sector ranked top among volume leaders with 16.1M shares, followed by Cement (15.4M) and Banks (12M). Among scrips, UNITY realized trading volumes of 16.1M shares, followed by DGKC (9.1M) and HASCOL (7.9M). The Index closed at 40,276pts as against 40,243pts showing an increase of 34pts (+0.1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+74pts), OMCs (+23pts), E&P (30pts), Power (-29pts), Inv Banks (-13pts). Volumes declined further from 117.6mn shares to 99.8mn shares (-15% DoD). Average traded value increased by 16% to reach US$ 28.4mn as against US$ 24.5mn.