Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan equities on Thursday managed to close in green after a shallow morning start.

Market opened gap down as Index heavy Exploration and Productions (E&Ps) took the brunt of selling following the decline in global crude prices as demand concerns rises due to US-China trade war.

Benchmark Index dipped as much as -0.9 percent and stayed in the red till mid day amid thin volumes. Later on, Fertilisers led the recovery on reported local buying with Engro Corporation (Engro) gaining 2.4 percent, Fauji Fertilizer (FFC) gaining 3.1 percent and Engro Fertilizer gaining 3.4 percent collectively contributed 114 points in Thursday’s rise.

“Gains are likely to remain in check tomorrow given return of ousted Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz as arrest warrants have been issued by accountability court on corruption charges against him and his family members, said, Elixir Securities’ analyst Murtaza Jafa.

Traded volumes decreased by 15.2 percent to 108.4 million shares traded over 128.4 million shares traded in previous day’s session while value traded too decreased to Rs 4.8 billion. Volume leaders were Pak Intl Bulk with 5.8 million shares traded, Fauji Cement with 5.2 million shares traded and Engro Polymer with 5.8 million shares traded.

Negative sentiments were witnessed in the cement sector where almost all major cement scrips including, DG Khan Cement, Attock Cement, Fauji Cement, Dewan Cemnet closed in the red zone while Cherat Cement, Lucky Cement and others managed to close in green.

Financial sector remined in green as major banking scrips including Habib Bank Limited (HBL), MCB Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, Bank Alflah , Bank Al Habib closed in upper circuit the red, while on the flip side Bank of Punjab ans Standard Chartered ABnk closed in red.

Shares of 191 companies surged while shares of 125 companies went down amongst total 333 companies’ shares traded on Thursday.

Published in Daily Times, July 13^th 2018.