KARACHI: The stock market remained volatile on Monday but the KSE-100 index managed to claw up by 64.78 points (0.17 per cent) to close at 39,253.25.

The session started out with the index taking an intra-day dip of 283 points. Later in the day, the index bounced back to an intra-day high of 81 points. Local institutional and individual investors tread cautiously at the 39,000-level. However foreign buyers continued to fatten their portfolios by adding $4.5m worth of stocks on Monday, taking the cumulative buying for July to $28.3m.

Volumes increased by 13.5pc to 172m shares while the trading value decreased by 20pc to Rs 10.9bn over the last session.

Sui North Gas Pipeline (SNGP) was the volume leader on Monday closing with a gain of 4.8pc due to expectations of a gas price hike. Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) also closed at its upper limit. Aisha Steel hit its upper circuit and Mughal steel rose 2.70pc on reports that the government had withdrawn a regulatory duty exemption on semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel. HUBCO (+2.05pc) was the major supporter of the index as investors switched positions from KAPCO (-0.18pc) due to its proposed privatization.

“Exploration & Production and Oil Marketing Companies remained buoyant while the bulk of the trading volume was seen among refineries in anticipation of high gross refinery margins (GRMs) after the completion of isomerisation and desulphurisation projects,” said analysts at Intermarket Securities. Autos continued to be the bellwether for the month and cement booked further gains while banks continued to take the heat on the back of expectations of a cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) as well as uncertainty prevailing the roll-over of maturing Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) held by banks.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2016