KARACHI: Stocks rebounded on Wednesday as the foreign sell-off tapered out with an outflow of only $0.30 million as against selling of $7.97m by passive funds on MSCI rebalancing a day ago.
The KSE-100 index gained 327.67 points (0.87 per cent) and settled at 38,122.72.
Investors’ interest remained fixated on the Supreme Court, which was occupied the entire day hearing the eligibility of extension given to Army Chief General Bajwa. Participation took a nosedive with volume declining to 228m shares versus 489m that changed hands a day ago.
There was no panic in the market as most believed that the issue was basically procedural and would be resolved. However, the ongoing rollover week of future contracts kept the stocks upside in check.
In other news, the All Parties Conference of the opposition reiterated its demand for fresh general elections which was also shrugged off by the market as not of much moment. Trading remained range-bound as the index oscillated between intaday high and low by 327 and 123 points.
Banking closed higher than the previous day, where MCB, National, Meezan, Habib and United were the major movers. A rally was witnessed in the steel sector where Ittefaq, International and Internation Industries closed at or near the upper circuit. Automobile also saw buying with scrips hitting their maximum lock.
Traded value also declined by 57pc to Rs8 billion over Rs18bn a day earlier. Top volume leaders were Unity Foods, Fauji Foods and Maple Leaf cumulatively contributing 59m shares.
Scrip-wise, MCB was higher by 53 points, Fauji Fertiliser 39 points, and Hub Power 30 points were major contributors to the index upside. Other leading gainers included Pakistan Tobacco, increasing by 4.89pc, Habib Bank 1.26pc, United Bank 1.49pc, Oil and Gas Development Company 1.12pc, Thal Ltd 4.83pc, GlaxoSmithKline 4.87pc and Meezan Bank 1.49pc.
Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2019
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