STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI Market traded in a narrow range on Thursday between +205pts and – 226pts, and closing the session +87pts. Yesterday’s PIB auction that resulted in normalization of yield curve and declining of yields gave good reasons for investors to come back to equities. However, weakening oil fundamentals kept the investors in limbo on whether to book profit or take new positions. Similar to Wednesday’s performance, Fertilizer sector maintained the momentum with further support from Cement and E&P sectors. Banking sector, on the other hand, faced selling pressure, bearing the brunt from foreign investors in past couple of sessions. Cement sector managed to post some recovery today and maintained top position in trading volumes with 34.6M shares, followed by Chemical (12.9M) and Vanaspati (10.9M). Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 14.8M shares, followed by UNITY (10.9M) and HASCOL (7.2M). The Index closed at 31,330pts as against 31,242pts showing an increase of 87pts (+0.3% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+39pts), Tobacco (+31pts), Pharma (+25pts), Inv Banks (+23pts), Power (+16pts), Banks (-57pts) and Insurance (-12pts). Volumes declined from 185.6mn shares to 119.1mn shares (-36% DoD). Average traded value also declined by 36% to reach US$ 28.5mn as against US$ 44.8mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, UNITY, HASCOL, EPCL and PIOC, which formed 36% of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (+24pts), DAWH (24pts), OGDC (+18pts), FFC (+17pts) and COLG (+15pts)
