Market watch
\nBenchmark index edges up 52.43 points to settle at 40,784.04
\nnews desk
\nKARACHI
\nThe Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) exhibited a turnaround on Monday as the KSE-100 index rose over 200 points in intraday trading before giving up most of the gains and closing with a meagre increase of 52 points.
\nMarket players took positive cue from international equities and oil markets. During the day, Brent crude climbed $1.28, or 3.2%, to $40.73 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $38.40, up $1.26, or 3.4%.
\nWhile investors cheered clarity in the US presidential election where Joe Biden was declared winner, overall sentiment remained mixed as market players were concerned over rising cases of coronavirus in the country and globally.
\nEarlier, the market opened on a positive note and touched the intra-day high within minutes but battered sentiment over the second wave of Covid-19 dragged the index into negative territory later. However, the index still managed to recover and close with a slight gain.
\nAt close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 52.43 points, or 0.13%, to settle at 40,784.04 points.
\nArif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market traded in a range of +212 points and -135 points. It closed the session in the green. Overall trading volumes remained thin compared with the volumes reported in the previous quarter or so.
\n\u201cBanking, fertiliser and offboard stocks largely contributed to the activity,\u201d it said, adding, \u201cin the banking sector, HBL and MCB posted price gains.\u201d
\nOvernight positivity in US stock futures, followed by regional markets, helped investors take a positive view, though muted, on the KSE-100 index.
\nSectors contributing to the performance included banks (+40 points), technology (+40 points), pharmaceutical (+26 points), chemical (+18 points) and fertiliser (+15 points).
\nIndividually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included HBL (+40 points), TRG Pakistan (+37 points), MCB (+24 points), Colgate-Palmolive (+22 points) and GlaxoSmithKline (+13 points).
\nStocks that contributed negatively were Lucky Cement (-21 points), NBP (-10 points), Pakistan Petroleum (-8 points), Oil and Gas Development Company (-8 points) and EFU General Insurance (-6 points).
\nJS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the PSX benchmark index blew hot and cold, touching intra-day high of +212 points and stooping to a low of -135 points. It closed at 40,784 (+52 points).
\nPower Cement (+0.8%), TRG Pakistan (+6.5%) and Pak Elektron (+3.1%) led volumes with a cumulative 88 million shares changing hands throughout the day.
\n\u201cOn the news front, Pakistan may return $2 billion worth of Saudi Arabian loan and is looking for various options to secure more financing aimed at keeping gross official foreign exchange reserves at their current level of over $12 billion,\u201d he stated.
\nThe cement sector declined where Lucky Cement (-1.1%), Cherat Cement (-1.2%), Pioneer Cement (-1.5%) and DG Khan Cement (-0.7%) were the major losers.
\nThe steel sector followed the trend where Aisha Steel Mills (-0.8%), Mughal Iron and Steel (-0.5%), International Industries (-0.2%), Amreli Steels (-0.9%) and Agha Steel (-1.2%) closed in the red region.
\n\u201cWe expect the market to remain bullish ahead, however, with uncertainty amid political noise and increasing corona cases. Hence, we recommend investors to book profit on the higher side and wait for any sharp dip to accumulate value stocks,\u201d the analyst said.
\nOverall, trading volumes dropped to 276.8 million shares compared with Friday\u2019s tally of 350.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.5 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Market watch Benchmark index edges up 52.43 points to settle at 40,784.04 news desk KARACHI The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) exhibited a turnaround on Monday as the KSE-100 index rose over 200 points in intraday trading before giving up most of the gains and closing with a meagre increase of 52 points. Market players took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n