ZUBAIR YAQOOB
KARACHI Market opened on a negative note on Friday with – 20pts and 0.3M volume traded. It went further down by 110pts and made a gradual recovery. Regulatory measures adopted by SBP and PBA with regards margin on Shares as collaterals, as well as relaxation in terms of classification of doubtful and bad debts on Banks’ financial statements caused much clarity to investors. Resultantly, Steel and Cement sector stocks which had one of the highest leverages among listed sectors made a swift recovery. Better performance in the regional markets also helped boosting investor confidence. Power sector topped the volumes table with 44.7M shares, followed by Cement (27.7M) and Banks (18.7M). Among scrips, KEL remained the volume leader with 41M shares, followed by UNITY (11.2M) and HASCOL (10.5M). The Index closed at 28,110pts as against 27,267pts showing an increase of 842pts (+3.1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+198pts), Banks (+180pts), Cement (+133pts), Power (+108pts), E&P (+44pts). Volumes declined from 186.7mn shares to 169.4mn shares (-10% DoD). Average traded value also declined by 24% to reach US$ 25.6mn as against US$ 33.5mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, UNITY, HASCOL, TRG and BOP, which formed 45% of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (+107pts), HUBC (+92pts), MCB (+76pts), UBL (+65pts) and LUCK (+65pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-29pts), OGDC (- 11pts), EFUG (-9pts), ARPL (-6pts), and ABOT (-3pts)
