Equity market climbs up by 545 points

Equity market climbs up by 545 points

KARACHI: The equity market gained 545 points on Monday following positive comments came from the finance minister at an even.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 38,852 points as against 38,307 points showing an increase of 545 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with +49 points and initially leaped forward +200 points however, low volumes and lack of interest by investors in general caused the index to slide.

The market came down by 145 points, again with low volumes. Mid day, activity started picking pace with first signs of recovery in KEL, followed by Cement sector and then spreading to all and sundry.

Positive comments by participants in a Bloomberg conference and days of lethargic activity is believed to have caused an improvement in sentiment and increase in otherwise poor trading volumes.

Sectors leading the volumes table include Power (KEL), Banks (BOP) and Cement (MLCF). Large cap stocks such as UBL, HBL, ENGRO, OGDC increased significantly that had the index close +566 points (unadjusted).

Sectors contributing to performance include Banks (+230 points), Fertilizer (+93 points), Cement (+70 points), Power (+47 points), & O&GMCs (+38 points).

Volumes declined from 129.5mn shares to 99.4 million shares (-23 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 3 percent to reach US$ 32 million as against US$ 33.1 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, BOP, PAEL, PIBTL and TRG, which formed 39 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+91 points), MCB (+69 points), FFC (+43 points), HUBC (+35 points), and LUCK (+34 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include COLG (-12 points), IGIHL (-7 points), JLICL (-7 points), SEARL (-7 points) and PMPK (-5 points).

Related Stories

Weekly Review: market to stay range bound on delay in IMF program