KARACHI: The equity market recorded increase of 319 points on Tuesday on expectation of cut in policy rate to be announced this week.
The Index closed at 33,603 points as against 33,284 points showing an increase of 319 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market went positive on the prospect of rate cut for which the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will be taking decision by end of week, besides the government’s stance on construction of Dams that is likely to generate demand for Cement and Steel.
Resultantly, Cement and Steel sectors ruled the index, mostly trading near upper circuits and generating high trading volumes. Banking and Oil & Gas sector stocks couldn’t generate much interest amongst investors.
Cement sector topped the index with 75.8 million shares, followed by Technology (28.6 million) and Vanaspati (23.1 million). Among scrips, MLCF realized trading volumes of 28.4 million shares, followed by UNITY (23.1 million) and FCCL (19.1 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+150 points), Banks (+67 points), Fertilizer (+62 points), E&P (+28 points), Power (+24 points) and O&GMCs (-16 points).
Volumes increased further from 198.2 million shares to 224.5 million shares (+13 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 68 percent to reach US$ 45.9 million as against US$ 27.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, UNITY, FCCL, WTL and HASCOL, which formed 42 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+50 points), ENGRO (+31 points), HBL (+29 points), MCB (+28 points) and DGKC (+26 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include SNGP (-20 points), BAHL (-9 points), PMPK (-8 points), DAWH (-7 points), and AICL (-6 points).
