Karachi, April 24, 2020: Market traded in a narrow range on the last day of rollover week. The benchmark index oscillated between -111 points and +218 points and closed the session -44 points. Pre-open session saw announcement of financial results of OGDC, LUCK and MLCF as key triggers for the Cement and E&P sectors.
OGDC skipped the dividend payment, which disappointed some investors, but high oil prices still kept the interest alive. Similarly, MLCF and LUCK posted poorer than expected results, which reflected on the prices of both the stocks earlier in the session, however, stock prices recovered to some extent.
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By the close of session, Cement sector stocks closed red, as did Engineering, O&GMCs, Refineries and Fertilizer. HBL and UBL (among Banks) managed to post some price gains, whereas E&P sector also closed green.
Cement sector realized trading volumes of 30 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (16.9 million) and Power (15.7 million). Among scrips, HASCOL led the table with 14.3 million shares, followed by MLCF (14.2 million) and KAPCO (11.9 million).
The Index closed at 32,806 points as against 32,850 points showing a decline of 44 points (-0.1 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+29 points), Power (+20 points), Technology (+12 points), Tobacco (-27 points), O&GMCs (-26 points), Cement (-22 points) and Inv Banks (-13 points).
Volumes declined from 204.3 million shares to 120.2 million (-41 million DoD). Average traded value also declined by 48 percent to reach US$ 30.5 million as against US$ 58.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, MLCF, KAPCO, UNITY and PPL, which formed 44 percent of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include FFC (+26 points), HUBC (+19 points), SYS (+16 points), UBL (+11 points) and MARI (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include EFERT (-16 points), PAKT (-16 points), PSO (-15 points), DAWH (-14 points), and PMPK (-11 points).
