KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed positive Tuesday with benchmark KSE100 Index settling at 45,802 levels, after making an intraday high of +200 points against an intraday low of -197 points. The index closed at 45801.73 after gaining 119.49 points. Market kicked off negative as the pressure came in from major banking and oil stocks; however the index was supported by rally in major cement players in the later part of the trading session. Tuesday’s major heavyweights namely, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) losing 1.05 percent, Oil And Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) losing 1.37 percent, United Bank Limited (UBL) losing losing 0.94 percent, ENGRO losing 0.10 percent, MCB Bank losing 0.27 percent, Pakistan Oil Fields (POL) losing 0.29 percent, Hubco losing 0.39 percent and Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) losing 0.08 percent cumulatively contributed -100 points to the index. Moreover, traded volumes remained almost flat, increasing by 2 percent day-on-day (DoD) only to 147 million shares, as against 144 million shared traded on the previous trading session while value traded increased to Rs 7.5 billion from Rs 6.5 billion. Top volume stocks were Engro Polymer (EPCL) with 12.86 million turnovers, Unity Foods Limited with 10.61 million shares traded, Lotte Chemicals with 8.45 million turnover and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) with 7.75 million share turnover. OGDC closed in the red zone after OGDC’s block placement yesterday. Mixed sentiments were seen in the Financials where heavyweights such as HBL (-1.05%), UBL (-0.94%) and MCB (-0.29%) were the major laggards. Bank Alflah (BAHL) gaining 2.16 percent closed in the green as the bank announced first quarter 2018 EPS at Rs1.88, down 9 percent year-on-year (YoY), with no payout. Lucky Cement gaining 1.90 percent, DG Khan Cement gaining 0.79 percent and FCCL gaining 2.72 percent closed in the green. FCCL announced nine months FY18 EPS at Rs1.54 with Rs1.00 surprise cash payout. Moreover, in Steels, International Steels Limited (ISL) gaining 0.32 percent announced nine months FY18 EPS at Rs7.43. “We expect overall activity to remain volatile and under pressure in the coming sessions with flows from Foreigners and Local institutions guiding the market direction”, said equity analyst Danish Ladhani. Of the 365 traded scrips, 187 advanced, 157 declined and 21 remained unchanged. Published in Daily Times, April 18th 2018.