Karachi, June 01, 2020: Market traded in a narrow range today between +131 points and -111 points closing the session +90 points. E&P, Banking scrips largely remained positive, whereas Cement, Fertilizer and Pharma stocks faced selling pressure.
Diminishing prospects of a further rate cut caused investor to shift focus on other sectors. Today’s release of CPI data, which came in line with street estimates (8.2 percent for the month of May 2020) hinted that there might not be any rate cut in near future.
E&P sector got traction from an increase in international crude oil prices, which increased from the levels witnessed on Friday. Off board scrips, UNITY, TRG, HUMNL seemed to take pause today, whereas PAEL saw price gains, while trading near upper circuit.
Technology stocks topped the volumes with 24.6 million shares, followed by Cable (23.5 million) and Banks (16.7 million). Among scrips, PAEL posted highest volumes with 22.7 million shares, followed by UNITY (14.2 million) and FFL (11.4 million).
The Index closed at 34,022 points as against 33,931 points showing an increase of 90 points (+0.3 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+165 points), E&P (+50 points), Cement (-40 points), Power (-19 points), Insurance (-18 points), Inv Banks (-17 points), Food (-12 points).
Volumes declined from 233.1 million shares to 198.1 million shares (-15 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 29 percent to reach US$ 44.2 million as against US$ 62.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PAEL, UNITY, FFL, TRG and JSCL, which formed 35 percent of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MCB (+55 points), UBL (+36 points), OGDC (+34 points), HBL (+26 points) and BAHL (+24 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-20 points), LUCK (-17 points), DAWH (-14 points), NESTLE (-12 points), and MARI (-12 points).
