KARACHI: The stock market saw volatility on Wednesday witnessing thin investor participation with the KSE-100 index closing 8.49 points up at 40,733.

The benchmark index opened in the green, but was soon pushed on the slippery slope where it went deep down by 501 points as investors were unimpressed by either the proposed arrival of a market support fund or the impact of regulatory import duties on non-essential items to curb the widening trade deficit. Yet the final half-hour of the trading saw sharp recovery as investors rushed to cheery-pick stocks mainly in the cement sector.

Elixir Securities stated that the DG Khan Cement surprise earnings turned the tide and helped swing the mood with Lucky Cement up 4.2pc also attracting fresh flows. “Investors welcomed the fresh wave with about half of the day’s turnover going through on the exchange in the last 30 minutes of the trading,” analysts said.

The volume was down 17pc over the previous day to 138m shares while the traded value declined 36pc to Rs6.19bn. EPCL, ANL and ASL led the volume chart.

Top index point contributors were Lucky Cement, which went up 4.2pc, MCB 1.5pc, DGKC 3.5pc, BAHL 1.8pc and PPL 0.8pc, adding 135 points; while POL fell 1.9pc, Nestle 4pc, DAWH 2.2pc, HBL 0.7pc and Thal Ltd 4.2pc, eroding 97 points.

According to JS Global rally was seen in the cement sector on back of the news that there has been an increase in cement prices by about Rs15-20/bag in the north region. E&P sector gained on the back of crude prices which stood at their strongest level in about three weeks. PPL jumped 0.77pc and OGDC 0.47pc.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017