Karachi, March 04, 2020: Market continued to slide with another draw down of 437 points during the session. By the close of session, index recovered somewhat but ended -293 points from LDCP. Other than Cement and Steel sector scrips, all the other sectors sustained losses.
News related to Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme, higher PSDP utilization and indication of relaxation from IMF on fiscal targets kept Investors’ interest alive, preferring cyclical stocks over index heavy weights like HBL, UBL, ENGRO, HUBC, FFC, OGDC and PPL. Oil & gas chain disregarded the hike in international crude prices and had muted interest from investors.
Cement sector remained in the limelight with 71.3M shares, followed by Banks (23.1 million) and O&GMCs (21.7 million). Among scrips, MLCF realized trading volume of 23.4 million shares, followed by HASCOL (19.2 million) and BOP (15.9 million).
The Index closed at 38,906 points as against 39,200 points showing a decline of 293 points (-0.7 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-107 points), Power (-53 points), Fertilizer (-45 points), O&GMCs (-26 points), Inv Banks (-20 points) and Cement (+38 points).
Volumes declined from 225.3 million shares to 186.8 million shares (-17 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 16 percent to reach US$ 47.8 million as against US$ 56.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, BOP, FCCL, PIOC and UNITY, which formed 45 percent of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively include MCB (+20 points), FFC (+20 points), COLG (+16 points), PAKT (+13 points) and UBL (+12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-46 points), HUBC (-45 points), OGDC (-43 points), PPL (-33 points), and MEBL (-20 points).
