May 31, 2020 (MLN): The KSE-100 index gained merely 94 points in the last two days of the departed week and closed 33,931-mark i.e. nearly 0.28% percent higher than the closing of the previous week.
The two-day trading week saw no substantial activity from the investors’ side due to lack of triggers and market drivers. While there was some excitement in the air on account of the upcoming budget, the expectations of which most pertain to the upliftment of the economy. However, there was no major news regarding the budget either, which kept the sentiments of the investors at bay.
The benchmark index was mainly led down by the performance of sectors such as Commercial Banks, Fertilizer, Food & Personal Care, Chemical, and Tobacco, as they looted the index by 43, 41, 29, 17 and 13 points, respectively.
Technology & Communication, and Pharmaceutical Sector emerged as the best performing sectors during the week, as both of them contributed about 47 points each to the benchmark index, followed by sectors such as Cement, Power Generations and Textile, which combinedly contributed 85 points to the index.
Company-wise, the scrips of TRG, OGDC, LUCK, SEARL and SYS were the most desirable ones as they contributed 29, 24, 22, 20 and 17 points, respectively. On the other hand, the shares of ENGRO, UBL, NESTLE, MCB and EFERT were the unwanted ones, as they took away 50, 32, 26, 22, and 20 points, respectively.
Figures released by NCCPL showed that foreign investors dumped USD 2.4 million worth of stocks during the week with foreign corporates doing the bulk of the selling.
On the local front, Individual Investors picked up USD 3.9 million worth of stocks, whereas the Mutual Funds sold approximately USD 2.2 million worth of stocks over the week.
