KARACHI: Extending the previous day’s bearish mood, the market opened weak but it quickly managed to recover and remained positive for the rest of the trading session.

It also took cue from regional markets which were generally bullish. The KSE-100 index gained 238.82 points (0.74 per cent) and settled at 32,553.39. Intraday, the benchmark rose 321 points.

An unexpected positive was the foreign buying, though in the minor sum of $0.21 million, still providing hope to the investors of a change of foreign fund managers’ outlook towards the Pakistan market.

Investor interest again centered on the cement stocks as the word went round that the price was not being revised downwards. Maple Leaf, DG Khan and Pioneer led gainers in the sector. The market is also expecting the construction industry to start operations as the spike in COVID-19 cases did not materialise as much as was feared. Participants generally remained sidelined prompting an occasional burst of activity.

Value-buying was seen as the market awaited the upcoming data release on inflation which could pave the way for possible further policy rate cut by the State Bank. Individuals cherry-picked stocks worth $2.06m.

The volume increased 29pc to 159.4m shares from 122.2m while traded value also rose 10pc to reach $36.1m as against $33m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Maple Leaf Cement, Unity Foods, DG Khan, Bank of Punjab and Hascol Petroleum, which formed 48pc of total turnover with the cement sector alone accounting for 59.6m shares.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, sectors contributing to the positive performance included cement, up by 92 points, power 45 points, food 45 points, fertiliser 31 points, oil and gas marketing companies 21 points while banks were down 39 points.

Despite decline in international oil prices, exploration and production closed on a flat note as major stocks managed to hold on, preventing greater fall.

In the oil chain, PSO posted gains.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2020