Karachi, March 18, 2019: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday opened on a positive note with +49pts and initially leaped forward +200pts however, low volumes and lack of interest by investors in general caused the index to slide.
The market came down by 145pts, again with low volumes. Mid day, activity started picking pace with first signs of recovery in KEL, followed by Cement sector and then spreading to all and sundry.
Positive comments by participants in a Bloomberg conference and days of lethargic activity believed to have caused an improvement in sentiment and increase in otherwise poor trading volumes.
End of the session, the KSE-100 index closed at 38,852 points on Monday as against 38,307 points on Friday showing an increase of 545 points or 1.4 percent.
Sectors contributing to performance include Banks (+230pts), Fertilizer (+93pts), Cement (+70pts), Power (+47pts), & O&GMCs (+38pts). Sectors leading the volumes table include Power (KEL), Banks (BOP) and Cement (MLCF). Large cap stocks such as UBL, HBL, ENGRO, OGDC increased significantly that had the index close +566pts (unadjusted).
Volumes declined by 23 percent from 129.5 million shares to 99.4 million shares. Average traded value also declined by 3% to reach US$ 32 million as against US$ 33.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, BOP, PAEL, PIBTL and TRG, which formed 39% of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+91pts), MCB (+69pts), FFC (+43pts), HUBC (+35pts), and LUCK (+34pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include COLG (-12pts), IGIHL (-7pts), JLICL (-7pts), SEARL (-7pts) and PMPK (-5pts).
