KARACHI: After several days of depression, the stocks made a strong rebound on Friday, which also was the last day of futures rollover week. The KSE-100 index rose 636.92 points (2.03 per cent) and closed at 32,070.81.

Market opened on a positive note, up by 94 points with thin volume. By the end of first session, the index had gained 261 points. Second session saw significant jump in both number of shares traded and index points which rose to intraday high by 652 points.

Market participants brushed aside concerns over rising bond yields in secondary market, the uncertainty over the macros and the political headwinds. One major factor that seemed to impact the market direction was the end of foreign corporates’ selling which in the week stood at around $9m.

On Friday foreign investors made marginal purchases of $0.48m. Among local participants, companies and banks made collective buying of stocks worth $3.26m, which took care of the individual profit taking by sale of shares of $2.71m ahead of the weekend.

The trading volume increased from 124.5m shares to 135.1m shares with value jumped by 20pc to reach $27.2m. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volume included KE, BOP, MLCF, WTL and PAEL.

Banking sector was again the leading gainer, followed by the exploration & production, power, fertiliser and cement sector. Cement stocks gained on price hike expectations. DGKC, PIOC, FCCL, Lucky and CHCC were the major movers of the sector.

From the E&P sector, POL, OGDC and PPL closed higher.

Scrips that helped index to show sharp recovery included OGDC (3.05pc), PPL (2.82pc), POL (2.18pc), Mari Petroleum (3.59pc), PSO (1.97pc), HBL (4.02pc), UBL (3.18pc), MCB Bank (1pc), BAFL (2.31pc), BOP (6.71pc), Hubco (2.67pc), SNGPL (4.24pc) and Kapco (4.07pc).

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2019