Karachi, March 24, 2020: First session in lockdown saw a wait-and-see stance at large from investors and an eventual slump in stock prices to lower circuit breakers. The market witnessed the 7th halt, which lasted 2 hours, and further shortened the already reduced market timings. Post halt, index continued trending down and saw the plunge going deeper by the end of session to 2100 points.
All hopes of Government ‘incentive’ / ‘bailout’ package for the industry and masses went in vain amid a possibility of country wide lock-down or curfew to be imposed by the Government. A slight rebound in international crude prices kept the interest in E&P stocks alive, resultantly, OGDC, PPL and POL traded above lower circuits.
Power sector realized the most trading volume with 27.4 million shares, followed by Banks (14.7 million) and Vanaspati (11.9 million). Among scrips, KEL topped the volume with 25.6 million shares, followed by UNITY (11.9 million) and BOP (9.6 million).
The Index closed at 28,564 points as against 30,667 points showing a decline of 2103 points (-6.9 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-602 points), Fertilizer (-320 points), E&P (-280 points), Cement (-167 points) and Power (-150 points).
Volumes declined from 245 million shares to 98.3 million shares (-60 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 71 percent to reach US$ 15.6 million as against US$ 53.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, UNITY, BOP, OGDC and HASCOL, which formed 59 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (+4 points), IGIHL (+2 points), STJT (+0 points), AGIL (+0 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-146 points), HBL (-140 points), HUBC (-108 points), MCB (-105 points), and FFC (-104 points).
