Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
Market traded in the positive zone on Friday, which was primarily caused by slight improvement in international crude prices (as compared to Thursday). E&P, OMCs largely remained positive, whereas Cement and Banking sector scrips also rebounded from recent lows. Cement Sector stocks saw an attrition of 10% in the past couple of sessions, from recent peaks, and highlighted an opportunity to the investors for rebound, especially today being the last trading day of the roll-over week. Pharmaceutical sector, on the contrary, slid down with FEROZ hitting lower circuit. Technology sector continued trending upward and posted high volumes with 34.3M shares, followed by Cement (26.7M) and Vanaspati (25.8M). Among scrips, UNITY led the volumes with 25.8M shares, followed by HASCOL (19.5M) and TRG (16.5M). The Index closed at 33,931pts as against 33,695pts showing an increase of 236pts (+0.7% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+68pts), Cement (+43pts), Power (+39pts), Banks (+37pts), Insurance (+26pts) and Food (-31pts). Volumes increased further from 14.8mn shares to 233mn shares (+20% DoD). Average traded value also increases by 39% to reach US$ 62.4mn as against US$ 45.1mn. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, HASCOL, TRG, MLCF and FFL, which formed 37% of total volumes. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (+53pts), HUBC (+32pts), LUCK (+31pts), PPL (+24pts) and ABOT (+16pts).
