KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 44 points on Friday as market traded in a narrow range on the last day of the week.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,806 points as against 32,850 points showing a decline of 44 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range on the last day of rollover week.

The benchmark index oscillated between -111 points and +218 points and closed the session -44 points.

Pre-open session saw announcement of financial results of OGDC, LUCK and MLCF as key triggers for the Cement and E&P sectors.

OGDC skipped the dividend payment, which disappointed some investors, but high oil prices still kept the interest alive.

Similarly, MLCF and LUCK posted poorer than expected results, which reflected on the prices of both the stocks earlier in the session, however, stock prices recovered to some extent.

By the close of session, Cement sector stocks closed red, as did Engineering, O&GMCs, Refineries and Fertilizer.

HBL and UBL (among Banks) managed to post some price gains, whereas E&P sector also closed green.

Cement sector realized trading volumes of 30 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (16.9 million) and Power (15.7 million). Among scrips, HASCOL led the table with 14.3 million shares, followed by MLCF (14.2 million) and KAPCO (11.9 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+29 points), Power (+20 points), Technology (+12 points), Tobacco (-27 points), O&GMCs (-26 points), Cement (-22 points) and Inv Banks (-13 points).

Volumes declined from 204.3 million shares to 120.2 million. Average traded value also declined by 48 percent to reach US$ 30.5 million as against US$ 58.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, MLCF, KAPCO, UNITY and PPL, which formed 44 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include FFC (+26 points), HUBC (+19 points), SYS (+16 points), UBL (+11 points) and MARI (+11 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively include EFERT (-16 points), PAKT (-16 points), PSO (-15 points), DAWH (-14 points), and PMPK (-11 points).

KARACHI: The stock market gained 387 points on Thursday in mixed trading activities during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,850 points as against 32,464 points showing an increase of 387 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded range bound for most of the session, with Cement, Banks and Engineering (Steel) sectors facing selling pressure, whereas Oil & gas stocks trading green.

International crude price rebounded overnight for WTI to trade +15 percent from its previous close and helped OGDC, PPL and HASCOL hitting upper circuits.

Sentiment on banking sector turned negative due to SBP’s direction to the Banks to conserve capital by not declaring dividends.

Cement sector, on the other hand, saw profit booking amid poor financial results of some Cement players. Cement sector led the volumes with 70.4 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (28.1 million) and Banks (14.7 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the table with 24.5 million shares, followed by HASCOL (21.9 million) and FCCL (12.1 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+265 points), O&GMCs (+74 points), Fertilizer (+65 points), Power (+55 points), Pharma (+24 points), Cement (-96 points) and Banks (-58 points).

Volumes declined from 239.8 million shares to 204.3 million shares (-15 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 8 percent to reach SU$ 58.8 million as against US$ 64.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, FCCL, DGKC and UNITY, which formed 39 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (+92 points), PPL (+84 points), POL (+51 points), ENGRO (+45 points) and MARI (+38 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-32 points), MCB (-29 points), DGKC (-23 points), CHCC (-15 points), and KOHC (-14 points).

KARACHI: The share market gained 41 points on Wednesday despite negative sentiments prevailed during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,464 points as against 32,423 points showing an increase of 41 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that tumbling international crude prices, especially that of Brent (traded below US$ 16/bbl briefly), caused the damage to investor sentiment today.

Pre-open session saw oil & gas (E&P and OMC) stocks with heavy volumes on offer. Market opened on a negative note and saw a loss of 529 points during the session.

For the most part, the benchmark index traded in the red zone, with sporadic recoveries due to banking sector stocks.

Cement sector continued rallying on the back of expectation of an increase in cement price / bag in the coming days in the Northern region, which would improve the bottomlines of listed Cement companies, in addition to the impact of significantly lower coal prices (hovering around US$ 50/ton).

Financial results of HBL, MCB, ABL brought back some activity, wherein HBL saw selling activity (despite announcement of Dividend), whereas MCB realized some price gains.

Cement sector topped the charts with 95.9 million shares, followed by Technology (22.1 million) and O&GMCs (21.4 million). Among scrips, MLCF saw volumes of 47.7 million, followed by HASCOL (17.4 million) and DGKC (13.8 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+74 points), Banks (+44 points), E&P (-54 points), Inv Banks (-33 points) and Power (-23 points).

Volumes declined from 338.7 million shares to 239.8 million shares (-29 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 32 percent to reach US$ 64.2 million as against US$ 93.8 million the other day.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, DGKC, FCCL and HUMNL, which formed 41 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MCB (+40 points), LUCK (+27 points), BAHL (+16 points), FFC (+14 points) and KAPCO (+13 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-44 points), DAWH (-36 points), HUBC (-34 points), PPL (-29 points), and ENGRO (-22 points).

KARACHI: The share market plunged by 1,077 points on Tuesday as energy scrips saw lower circuit breakers following massive decline in international oil prices.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,422 points as against 33,500 points showing a decline of 1077 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened in negative 478 points today and continued the descent throughout the session, which extended to negative 1077 points by the end of session.

Concerns raised by IMF over G20 debt relief, announced last week by the Government, as well as hinting higher than expected inflation with a caution over the Policy rate cut caused the market to panic.

In addition, onslaught on WTI and Brent prices in the international market kept the bears active in Oil & Gas scrips, which saw OGD, PPL, POL, PSO, HASCOL on lower circuit breakers by the end of session.

Banking sector stocks also adjusted downward by close. Cement sector saw an initial selling pressure, but rallied on the hint of Cement prices to be increased in the coming days.

Nonetheless, overall negative sentiment couldn’t save Cement sector stocks from selling pressure. Cement sector garnered 151.3 million shares in trading volumes, followed by O&GMCs (28.6 million) and Technology (21.4 million).

Among scrips, MLCF realized 39.6 million shares, followed by FCCL (35.5 million) and HASCOL (23 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-288 points), Fertilizer (-175 points), Power (-136 points), Banks (-124 points) and O&GMCs (-106 points).

Volumes declined from 399.9 million shares to 339.2 million shares (-15 percent DOD). Average traded value also declined by 12 percent to reach US$ 95.5 million as against US$ 106.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, FCCL, HASCOL, DGKC and PIOC, which formed 41 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include EFERT (+24 points), KOHC (+13 points), CHCC (+12 points), PAKT (+11 points) and BAHL (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-129 points), HUBC (-114 points), OGDC (-98 points), PPL (-94 points), and FFC (-62 points).

KARACHI: The stock market gained 668 points on Monday as sentiments were remained positive on rate cut and disbursement of IMF loan program.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,500 points as against 32,832 points showing an increase of +668 points.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that cut in policy rate by 200 basis points to 9 percent and approval by IMF Executive Board to disburse US$1.386 billion through Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to Pakistan continue to garner investor interest in the market.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued the ascend today after posting the historical gains on Friday, when the market witnessed halt due to 5 percent cap on index.

Market went up by 1026 points during the session and saw profit booking earlier in the session that brought the gains below +300 points.

Cement sector again traded mostly on upper circuit and realized high trading volumes. Oil & Gas stocks, with the exception of PSO, saw a dip in prices, primarily on the back of international crude prices.

WTI May contract saw a downtrend in price and declined to US$13.27/bbl post closure of PSX market. Banking sector stocks also managed to post gains over last closing.

Cement sector contributed the most to the trading volumes by realizing 115.8 million shares, followed by Technology (33.4 million) and O&GMCs (32 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 39.6 million shares, followed by FCCL (35.5 million) and HASCOL (23 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+220 points), Cement (+183 points), Banks (+97 points), O&GMCs (+43 points) and Power (+40 points).

Volumes increased significantly from 302.4 million shares to 399.9 million shares (+32 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 100 percent to reach US$ 106.2 million as against US$ 52.6 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, FCCL, HASCOL, UNITY and KEL, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (+155 points), LUCK (+91 points), FFC (+70 points), HUBC (+46 points) and HBL (+33 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PAKT (-16 points), EFERT (-12 points), PPL (-11 points), PMPK (-11 points), and KAPCO (-7 points).

KARACHI: The stock market likely to maintain positive trend during the next week after the surprise cut in policy rate and approval of $1.38 billion emergency loan by IMF.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market to hover in the green zone next week as the cabinet has granted approval to an Ordinance providing incentives for the construction industry.

Whereas slow growth of Coronavirus cases in Pakistan may also fuel bullish sentiments.

On the other hand, we might see further appreciation in PKR against green as foreign selling in debt securities has largely been subdued, inclusion of Pakistan by G20 in its debt relief plan which might reduce debt repayment pressure, and disbursement of funds from the IMF which may aid foreign exchange reserves.

Trading commenced on a negative note this week as the OPEC+ announced a production cut that remained inefficient to offset the expected drop in demand amid COVID-19, which resulted in a decline in international oil prices.

On the other hand, the Sindh government announced a more severe lockdown on account of rising cases in the province which dampened investor’s sentiments.

However, sentiment reversed direction on the last trading day whereby steep gains were witnessed in the wake of i) 200bps cut in the benchmark rate to 9 percent by the State Bank in an emergency unscheduled meeting, ii) approval of a USD 1.4bn fund by the IMF for Pakistan, iii) sharp decline in 10-year PIB’s yield from 8.65 percent to 7.7 percent, and iv) 2 percent appreciation in the PKR against USD.

As a result, the benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,832 points, up by 799 points or 2.5 percent WoW.

Contribution to the upside was led by i) Fertilizer (405 points), ii) Cements (170 points), iii) Pharmaceuticals (127 points), iv) Textile Composite (59 points), and v) Automobile Assemblers (51 points). Scrip wise major gainers were DAWH (143 points), FFC (125 points), ENGRO (108 points), LUCK (80 points), and SEARL (43 points). Whereas, scrip wise major losers were NESTLE (97 points), UBL (56 points) HBL (55 points), BAFL (54 points) and BAHL (32 points).

Foreigners offloaded stocks worth of USD 14.24 million compared to a net sell of USD 16.22 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 3.79 million) and Fertilizer (USD 3.03 million).

On the local front, buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 6.80 million) followed by Companies (USD 4.53 million).

That said, average daily volumes for the outgoing week were down by 4 percent to 178 million shares likewise value traded decreased by 10 percent to USD 37.8 million.

KARACHI: The share market gained 87 points on Thursday after trading in range bound during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,330 points as against 31,242 points showing an increase of 87 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range today between +205 points and -226 points, and closing the session +87 points.

Yesterday’s PIB auction that resulted in normalization of yield curve and declining of yields gave good reasons for investors to come back to equities.

However, weakening oil fundamentals kept the investors in limbo on whether to book profit or take new positions.

Similar to yesterday’s performance, Fertilizer sector maintained the momentum with further support from Cement and E&P sectors.

Banking sector, on the other hand, faced selling pressure, bearing the brunt from foreign investors in past couple of sessions.

Cement sector managed to post some recovery today and maintained top position in trading volumes with 34.6 million shares, followed by Chemical (12.9 million) and Vanaspati (10.9 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 14.8 million shares, followed by UNITY (10.9 million) and HASCOL (7.2 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+39 points), Tobacco (+31 points), Pharma (+25 points), Inv Banks (+23 points), Power (+16 points), Banks (-57 points) and Insurance (-12 points).

Volumes declined from 185.6 million shares to 119.1 million shares (-36 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 36 percent to reach US$ 28.5 million as against US$ 44.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, UNITY, HASCOL, EPCL and PIOC, which formed 36 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (+24 points), DAWH (24 points), OGDC (+18 points), FFC (+17 points) and COLG (+15 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (-23 points), HBL (-20 points), LUCK (-11 points), UBL (-11 points), and EFERT (-11 points).

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).

KARACHI: The equity market gained 190 points on Tuesday owing to improved sentiments of investors.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,223 points as against 31,033 points showing an increase of 190 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited the market traded in the positive zone for most part of the session, despite international crude oil prices dipping below the pre-production cut levels.

The WTI saw declines of around 2.5 percent in international markets, which caused local investors to book profit on E&P and O&GMCs.

Similar activity was observed in Cement sector that saw MLCF and DGKC touching levels near lower circuits, but rebounded strongly by the closing of session.

Textile sector also benefited from positive investor sentiment. Major reason behind the positivity was Government’s consideration on following smart lockdown / partial opening up of businesses across the country that raised hopes among investors for return to normalcy.

Banking sector stocks largely stood ground with HBL, MCB and UBL trading range bound amidst low volumes. Cement sector posted trading volumes of 37.5 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (14.7 million) and Power (11.7 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 11.4 million, followed by HASCOL (10.7 million) and PAEL (7.7 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+61 points), Banks (+47 points), Textile (+41 points), Pharma (+32 points), Auto (+22 points), Food (-36 points) and Power (-21 points).

Volumes dipped from 153.9 million shares to 130.4 million shares (-15 percent DoD) Average traded value also declined by 16 percent to reach US$ 28.8 million as against US$ 34.4 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, PAEL, KEL and PIOC, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+23 points), MTL (+19 points), NML (+16 points), NBP (+13 points) and SEARL (+12 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively include NESTLE (-35 points), HUBC (-22 points), HMB (-6 points), OGDC (-6 points), and SNGP (-6 points).