KARACHI: Stocks snap­ped the three-day losing streak on Tuesday as the index rebounded 176.55 points, or 0.39 per cent, to close at 45,903.23.

The tone of the market was set by rumours suggesting that the ECC was considering removal of cap on the Mari Petroleum Ltd dividend which caused the company’s stock price, already the highest on the E&P sector, to hit its upper circuit. It breathed a new life in the energy sector where several stocks witnessed buying.

The market opened in the green but remained range-bound oscillating between the intraday high of 251 points in the positive and intraday low of 130 points in the negative. Although selling pressure was primarily observed in banks and fertiliser sector from the start, a rush of fresh buying in power, E&P, technology and textiles carried the index high earlier in the day while the last hour saw all-round profit-booking which wiped out much of the earlier gains.

On the political front, investors remained cautious as opposition parties carried out its protest march and demonstrations in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan in Islamabad.

On the news front, the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) was reported to have approved another Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Chinese state-owned Sinopharm.

On the economic side, the FDI declined 29pc in 1HFY21. According to Arif Habib Ltd, stocks that contributed towards lifting the index higher included Hub­co (74 points), TRG (60 points), Mari Petroleum (57 points), OGDCL (28 points) and BAHL (27 points). Stocks that contributed negatively included HBL (24 points), UBL (21 points), Pakistan Oilfields (14 points), System Ltd (13 points) and Millat Tractors (11pts).

Foreign investors turned buyers for yet another day, cherry-picking shares worth $1.73m.

The trading volume decreased 10pc over the previous day to 491.8m amid general market caution due to the roll-over week which would start from next week. The traded value also declined by 9pc to Rs19.9bn. TRG topped volume leaders’ list with trading in 29m shares. Pakistan Refinery, Fauji Foods, Unity and K-Electric were other second-tier heavily traded scrips that together contributed a quarter of the day’s entire turnover.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2021