Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market witnessed bloodbath situation, which was triggered by crashing of oil price from $45/bbl on Friday’s opening to US$ 28/bbl on Monday (a staggering 62% decline). Resultantly, oil stocks hit lower circuit breakers, with OGDC and PPL showing offers of 16M and 13M throughout the day. Similar situation was observed in O&GMCs. During the session, the benchmark KSE100 index sustained a loss of 2302pts but staged a recovery of 1142pts, closing 1161pts down. Stocks, all and sundry, hit lower circuit in the early part of the session, when KSE30 crossed 4% and market came to halt for 45 minutes. That offered an opportunity in Cyclicals (namely Cement and Steel Sector stocks), which appealed investors not only due to near term fundamentals but also because of safe haven demand. Resultantly, Cement and Steel sector stocks turned around from lower circuits and went up to hit upper circuits. Cement Sector led the trading volumes with 79.8M shares, followed by Banks (42.6M) and Power (27.8M). Among scrips, FCCL topped the charts with 30.6M shares, followed by BOP (22.9M) and MLCF (22.5M). The Index closed at 37,058pts against 38,220pts showing a decline of 1161pts (-3% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-560pts), E&P (-353pts), Fertilizer (-155pts), O&GMCs (-104pts), Power (-98pts), Cement (+206pts) and Engineering (+20pts). Volumes increased from 244.4m shares to 308.0mn shares (+26% DoD). Average traded value however managed to decrease by a miniscule 0.2% to reach US$ 73.3mn against US$ 73.5mn the other day. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include FCCL, BOP, MLCF, KEL and TRG, which formed 36% of total volumes.
