Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market maintained the range bound activity, witnessed for the past 2 sessions, where the index moves both directions and, in the end, maintains 43K level. Political uncertainty has so far kept the otherwise bright outlook muddled. Banking sector scrips also held on to price levels, whereas Index heavy weights such as ENGRO, POL, OGDC, HBL, PSO remained under slight pressure.
In general, Cement and Textile sector scrips performed well and price gains were observed, although a news article quoted additional cost burden being added by the Govt. on the textile sector. Banking sector led the volumes with 81.1M shares, contributed mainly by BOP (60.3M), followed by Cement (33.9M) and Technology (29.4M). Among scrips, WTL (11.7M) and TRG (9.1M) followed BOP. The Index closed at 43,065pts as against 42,993pts showing an increase of 72pts (+0.2% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+63pts), Textile (+21pts), Cement (+13pts), E&P (-18pts), Chemical (-16pts), Inv Banks (-16pts). Volumes increased from 171.3mn shares to 229.9mn shares (+34% DoD).
