KARACHI
Volatility continued on Monday at bourse as the index continuously juggled between the red and the green zones and concluded with modest increase of 83.4 points or 0.23pc to close at 35,825 levels, with relatively low volumes of 200 million shares.
It was expected that liquidity will return to the market as future roll over week has ended but it seems that SECP’s action has created more than expected uneasiness amongst the investors, observed analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global..
CPI clocked in at 1.8pc YoY for the month of July, far lower than expected thus making highly leveraged sectors such as cements and fertilizers attractive. Fatima rose 2.4pc, EFERT 1.54pc and FFBL 1.37pc respectively.
Samar Iqbal at Equity Sales Topline Securities stated stability was seen at local bourse after lower than expected inflation was announced.
Pre-result rally was seen in Engro and EFERT as investors expecting better June results.
Auto assemblers also rallied in anticipation of improved car sales in the month of July. HCAR, PSMC and INDU rose by 5pc, 3pc and 0.5pc respectively.
Engro led the volumes with Rs.1.5b/ $15m followed by DGKC and TRG with Rs.595m/ $5.95m and Rs.587m/ $5.87m worth of shares.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed higher led by selected banking, fertilizers and cement scrips on speculations ahead of corporate announcements due this week.
Falling global commodities weakened investors’ interest in oil stocks. Hopes for amicable settlement of withholding tax issue for non-filers and release of IMF tranche under Extended Fund Facility later next month played a catalyst role in positive close amid thin activity at KSE.