Karachi, September 02, 2020: Up and running again as the market closed in the green region for the second consecutive day. The benchmark index made an intraday high of +555 points to close at 41,835 level (up 457 points).
Traded value stood higher at US$158 million, up 21 percent and volume stood at 837 million shares, up 10 percent. Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from KEL (5.7 percent), PTC (9.1 percent), PIBTL (4.0 percent), HASCOL (6.2 percent) and TRG (0.7 percent) as they cumulatively contributed 232mn shares.
On the news front, CPI eased for the month of August, clocking in at 8.2 percent (down from 9.3 percent in July) on the back of a slight decline in prices of essential food products. Cement sector continued its upward streak where KOHC (2.0 percent), CHCC (2.3 percent), PIOC (2.1 percent), MLCF (1.3 percent) and DGKC (1.1 percent) were the major movers of the mentioned sector.
Banking space also enjoyed the rally where NBP (7.5 percent), UBL (2.5 percent), BAFL (1.8 percent) and HBL (0.5 percent) closed in the green zone. Moreover NBP declared its 1HCY20 result, where the company posted an EPS of Rs7.08 with no cash payout.
Going forward we expect the market to depict a similar trend and recommend investors to see any downside in the market as an opportunity to buy in in the cement, steel, consumer and banking sectors.
