Equity market ends higher in seesaw trade

Equity market ends higher in seesaw trade

KARACHI: The equity market gained 59 points on Thursday after witnessing seesaw trading during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 36,811 points as against 36,753 points showing an increase of 59 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market had an exciting session where the Index slipped in and out of green zone several times but ended the session in green.

Besides after shock of TSA and regardless of SBP’s clarification on the matter, BOP’s price went down again and after initial trading in a narrow range, the price hit lower circuit and closed near that level.

By the end of session, news of Finance Minister, Asad Umer again caused panic but market saw recovery after initial reaction.

Banking sector ranked top in terms of volume with 62 million shares, followed by Vanaspati (54 million) and Cement (21 million).

BOP ranked top consecutively on the volumes table with 53 million shares.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+37 points), Power (+33 points), E&P (+28 points), Fertilizer (+26 points) Autos (+7 points), Cement (-47 points).

Volumes increased from 173 million shares to 216 million shares. Average traded value also increased by 5 percent DoD to reach US$ 36.6 million as against US$ 34.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BOP, UNITYR1, UNITY, LOTCHEM and PAEL, which formed 60 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+39 points), FFC (+37 points), HUBC (+30 points), UBL (+28 points), and PPL (+25 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include BOP (-22 points), LUCK (-18 points), MCB (-12 points), DAWH (-10 points) and PSO (-10 points).