Closing Bell: Flying in a blue dream

July 22, 2020 (MLN): The capital markets opened higher in continuation with previous’ bullish momentum. The KSE-100 Index struggled to hold gains for much of the day despite the improvement of economic indicators.

The Index remained volatile throughout the day as the index swung between green and red zone and ultimately closed in the green territory by gaining 104 points to finish at 37,804-level.

However, the decision of Hafeez Shaikh’s ouster from the National Finance Commission had an immediate impact on the index as it received mixed reactions, with the KSE-100 index recovering near the end of the day.

The index has been positive for the fifth straight trading sessions, taking a cumulative increase of 12.15%, while, so far, in FY21 the index return has been 9.83%.

The Index traded in a range of 434.92 points or 1.15 percent of the previous close, showing an intraday high of 37,985.51 and a low of 37,550.59.

Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index, 49 closed up 45 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. The total volume traded for the index was 257.45 million shares.

Sectors propping up the index were Cement with 79 points, Automobile Assembler with 40 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 26 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 20 points and Engineering with 11 points.

The most points added to the index were by LUCK which contributed 71 points followed by MTL with 28 points, PSO with 18 points, MCB with 16 points, and HBL with 14 points.

Sector-wise, the index was let down by Power Generation & Distribution with 37 points, Fertilizer with 25 points, Insurance with 15 points, Chemical with 9 points and Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. with 8 points.

The most points taken off the index were by HUBC which stripped the index of 35 points followed by UBL with 34 points, ENGRO with 16 points, TRG with 11 points and EFUG with 8 points.

All Share Volume decreased by 51.71 Million to 405.51 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.15.02 Billion.

Total companies traded were 409 compared to 405 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 185 closed up, 196 closed down while 28 remained unchanged.

Total trades decreased by 19,460 to 158,563.

Value Traded decreased by 1.72 Billion to Rs.17.81 Billion

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