Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market saw selling pressure Thursday whereby E&P and Banking sectors contributed towards the decline besides other sectors, which were already adjusting downwards for the past couple of sessions, namely Cement, Fertilizer, OMCs and Pharmaceuticals. Overall, the Index slid by 311pts during the session after posting a small gain of 9pts early on, closing the Index -282pts (unadjusted).
Yields of T-bill and 10y PIB increased significantly which diminishes the prospect of further rate cut. At the same time, lackluster participation from Mutual Funds, Banks and Insurance (and mostly on the sell side) has made current Index levels a hurdle, despite pre-budget timeframe. International crude prices were also under pressure, which brought E&P stocks down as well.
Technology sector topped the index with 18.1M shares, followed by Power (15.8M) and O&GMCs (13.6M). Among scrips, TRG led the volumes with 11.3M shares, followed by UNITY (11.3M) and HASCOL (8.1M). The Index closed at 34,119pts as against 34,401pts showing a decline of 282pts (-0.8% DOD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-85pts), E&P (-79pts), Power (-34pts), Cement (-28pts) and Food (-24pts).
