Equity market gains 208 points in narrow band trading

Equity market gains 208 points in narrow band trading

KARACHI: The equity market ended with gain of 208 points on Thursday in a narrow band trading.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 36,787 points as against 36,579 points showing an increase of 208 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow band today, although tilted towards positive, but oscillated between -80 points and +331 points during the session.

Highlight of today’s session remained Cement Sector, which saw trading volumes of 38M (contributed by FCCL, MLCF & DCL) and contributed negatively to the points table.

Selling pressure was observed in the Cement sector, whereby MLCF saw several touchdowns on lower circuit, but otherwise DGKC and LUCK saw considerable buying activity. E&P, Refinery, Banks and Engineering sector performed positive today.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+48 points), E&P (+46 points), O&GMCs (+36 points), Power (+24 points), Fertilizer (+20 points) and Cement (-20 points).

Volumes increased from 141.2 million shares to 143.8 million shares (+2 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 7 percent to reach US$ 31.2 million as against US$ 29.1 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, FCCL, MLCF, KEL and WTL, which formed 39 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include OGDC (+29 points), PSO (+24 points), HUBC (+22 points), LUCK (+22 points), and HBL (+14 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include DGKC (-13 points), FCCL (-9 points), MLCF (-9 points), HASCOL (-5 points) and CHCC (-5 points).