Closing Bell: Brownian motion

September 25, 2020 (MLN): The capital markets opened modestly higher, finding some support from yesterday’s session. However, the KSE-100 index staged a U-turn in the second half of Friday and closed in the red zone due to last day of rollover week.

The Benchmark KSE-100 Index lost nearly 105 points or 0.25 percent decline to settle at 41,701-level in a topsy-turvy session.

According to closing note by Arif Habib Limited, Cement sector stocks sustained selling pressure due to apprehensions on Competition Commission’s raid on APCMA.

The trading activity was knocked by the recent Debt data releases by SBP, wherein domestic debt amounted to Rs. 23.39 trillion in July’20, up by 6% YoY.

Another important highlight of the day was the announcement by Maple Leaf Cement which has established Letter of Credit (LC) to expand its existing Waste Heat Recovery Plant to 25 MW with a projected outlay of  Rs 1.8 billion.

During the session, Ismail Industries and Sapphire Textile Mills (SAPT) announced their financial results wherein Ismail Industries suffered a 33% decline in profits to stand at Rs. 423.7 million in FY20. While the latter witnessed a 56% YoY increase in net profits for FY20 to Rs 7.86 billion compared to the profits of Rs 5 billion reported in FY19.

The Index traded in a range of 496.56 points or 1.19 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 42,098.94 and a low of 41,602.38.

Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 39 closed up 57 closed down, while 0 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 314.27 million shares.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Cement with 85 points, Technology & Communication with 21 points, Insurance with 17 points, Automobile Assembler with 16 points and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 15 points.

The most points taken off the index was by LUCK which stripped the index of 39 points followed by UBL with 22 points, TRG with 22 points, DGKC with 16 points and MUREB with 14 points.

Sectors propping up the index were Power Generation & Distribution with 16 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 15 points, Refinery with 12 points, Chemical with 10 points and Fertilizer with 9 points.

The most points added to the index was by HBL which contributed 30 points followed by COLG with 21 points, BYCO with 12 points, HASCOL with 11 points and KAPCO with 11 points.

All Share Volume increased by 0.13 Million to 435.02 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.10.23 Billion.

Total companies traded were 411 compared to 423 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 161 closed up, 232 closed down while 18 remained unchanged.

Total trades decreased by 5,743 to 123,847.

Value Traded increased by 0.31 Billion to Rs.15.42 Billion

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