Karachi, May 28, 2020: Market opened on a negative on Thursday and maintained the negative trajectory, realizing a loss of 238 points during the session and closing -141 points. International crude prices slipped overnight to trade near US$31.5/bbl, which was approx. 4 percent down from the level KSE100 saw on last Thursday, before the market closed for long weekend (due to Eid).
Besides, Cement and Banking sectors remained under pressure throughout the session for want of a clear positive trigger. Off-board scrips, TRG, UNITY, PAEL, HUMNL remained in the limelight in addition to Pharma sector (primarily SEARL and GLAXO), which has consistently shown performance on the back of Covid-19 cures.
Technology sector led the volumes with 36.9 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (28.8 million) and Vanaspati (21.2 million). Among scrips, TRG topped the index with 24.7 million shares, followed by HASCOL (24.4 million) and UNITY (21.1 million).
The Index closed at 33,695 points as against 33,836 points showing a decline of 141 points (-0.4 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-76 points), E&P (-56 points), Fertilizer (-22 points), Chemical (-16 points), Power (-14 points), Pharma (+31 points) and Technology (+21 points).
Volumes declined further from 147.2 million shares to 194.6 million shares (+32 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 25 percent to reach US$ 45.1 million as against US$ 36.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, HASCOL, UNITY, PAEL and MLCF, which formed 48 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include SEARL (+21 points), TRG (+19 points), GLAXO (+11 points), MARI (+9 points) and KAPCO (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-27 points), UBL (-27 points), PPL (-26 points), HBL (-24 points), and HUBC (-18 points).
