Daily Times

KARACHI: The KSE-100 movements Wednesday were reflective of a seesaw, where the local bourse juggled between green and red, making an intraday low of -137 points, and an intraday high of +119 points.

The market was range-bound throughout the session. The KSE-100 Index gained 82.06 points to close at 41,320.13.

Buying was witnessed towards the close as investors took the opportunity to accumulate stocks on attractive valuations and after Islamabad High Court suspended the sentences handed to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption reference.

Volumes remained subdued as 159 million shares changed hands during the day. K Electric led volumes with more than 30 million shares traded.

Banking space blew hot and cold in Wednesday’s trading session, where big players such as Habib Bank Limited (HBL), United Bank Limited and Bank Alflah Limited closed in green zone while MCB Bank and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) closed in the red zone.

DG Khan Cement from the cement sector declared its FY18 result, where the company posted an EPS of Rs20.25 and a cash payout of Rs4.25/share.

Investor’s interest was witnessed in the auto sector after the finance minister Asad Umar, presenting Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill 2018, proposed withdrawal of restriction on non-filers to buy cars and properties, slapped by the previous government. Automobile assemblers, Honda Atlas Cars gaining 5 percent and Pak Suzuki Motor Company gaining 5 percent closed at their upper lock due to positive measures taken in mini budget. An equity analyst Maaz Mulla expects market to remain positive for the coming session where we recommend investors to buy valued stocks on dip. During the day, the advance to decline ratio in the broader market remained in the favor of bulls; 166:125 and 32 scrips unchanged.

Published in Daily Times, September 20^th 2018.