Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market made a strong come back on Wednesday by registering an increase of 377pts, however, BNP Mengal’s decision to leave PTI Coalition government caused jitters in the market. The index lost all the gains made during the session and sustained a loss of -243pts, closing the session -170pts. Political uncertainty amid Corona crisis and border skirmishes between China and India have cumulatively dented the investor sentiment for the moment. Rupee parity also crossed 165 during the day, whereas international crude prices also picked pace, which in turn caused E&P stocks to post gains. Vanaspati sector topped the volumes with 43.9M shares, followed by Inv Banks (35.5M) and Chemical (34.8M). Among scrips, UNITY led the volumes with 43.9M shares, followed by JSCL (28.9M) and PRL R1 (13.8M). The Index closed at 33,849pts as against 34,019pts showing a decline of 170pts (-0.5% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-77pts), Cement (-50pts), Fertilizer (-42pts), O&GMCs (-15pts) and Technology (-9pts). Volumes increased from 217.9mn shares to 340.8mn shares (+56% DoD). Average traded value also increased by 55% to reach US$ 61.0mn as against US$ 39.4mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, JSCL, PRLR1, AGL and NRSL, which formed 32% of total volumes.
