Equity market gains 428 points on increased activity in construction
KARACHI: The equity market gained 428 points on Monday owing to increased activity in construction sector, analysts said.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 36,619 points as against 36,190 points showing an increase of +428 points.
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Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the first day after resumption of trading hours to Pre-COVID brought higher volumes, touching 468 million shares which is slightly higher than what was observed on Thursday.
This is the highest volume so far in CY20. Index also moved uni-directional, gaining 532 points during the session and closing at +428 points.
Cement sector led the sentiment with MLCF realizing the most trading volumes in recent times.
Majority of the cement sector scrips traded at and near upper circuits. Recently announced Housing Scheme has brighten the prospects for the Cement companies in addition to declining coal prices and increase in retail price / bag.
Among O&GMCs, PSO and SSGC stood out with higher volumes and price appreciation. Similar bullish sentiment was observed in Steel sector, which saw ASTL and MUGHAL hitting upper circuits.
Overall, Cement sector topped the volumes with 144.5 million shares (30 percent of total traded volumes), followed by Technology (43.2 million) and Engineering (34.2 million).
Among scrips, PAEL (21.9 million) and TRG (21.2 million) followed MLCF with 76.4 million shares.
Sectors contributing to the performance incude Cement (+162pt), O&GMCs (+56 points), E&P (+50 points), Banks (+37 points) and Autos (+31 points).
Volumes increased from 292.7 million shares to 468.9 million shares (+60 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 94 percent to reach US$ 111.4 million as against US$ 57.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, PAEL, TRG, HASCOL and POWER, which formed 33 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+57 points), PSO (+42 points), DGKC (+34 points), MEBL (+21 points) and CHCC (+19 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PSEL (-7 points), EFUG (-6 points), PAKT (-5 points), HUBC (-5 points), and BOP (-5 points).