KARACHI: The equity market fell by 19 points on Wednesday in mixed trading sessions during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,242 points as against 31,223 points showing an increase of 19 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with 165 points, which was primarily the reaction to partial opening of various industries and sectors decided by the federal and provincial governments.
The index surged by 572 points, barring E&P and O&GMCs, during the session despite downward trend in international crude prices.
As WTI dropped by more than 4.5 percent to touch 18-year low (2002) of US$ 19.20/bbl, E&P and O&GMCs lost support from levels maintained in trades earlier in the session.
Cement Sector, which was the highlight of today and performed well during the session also saw profit booking by the end of session. Strong price performance was contributed by Fertilizer Sector.
Early on, the support for benchmark KSE-100 index came from index heavy weights, ENGRO, HUBC, LUCK, DAWH and FFC.
Secondary market PIB yields also dropped further to indicate optimism for a rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy. 10yr PIB was observed trading at 8.65 percent.
Cement sector continued leading the volumes with 61.9 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (15.6 million) and Chemical (14.2 million). Among scrips, MLCF realized 22.5 million shares, followed by HASCOL (10.9 million) and FCCL (9.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-107 points), Banks (-36 points), Food (-21 points), Inv Banks (+60 points), Cement (+41 points), Fertilizer (+26 points) and Pharma (+23 points).
Volumes increased from 130.4 million shares to 1856 million shares (+42 percent DoD) Average traded value also increased by 55 percent to reach US$ 44.8 million as against US$ 28.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, FCCL, PIOC and DGKC, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+59 points), LUCK (18 points), FFC (+14 points), ABOT (+12 points) and EPCL (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-37 points), PPL (-35 points), POL (-29 points), NESTLE (-25 points), and BAFL (-16 points).
