KARACHI: Stocks staged a strong recovery on Friday, only a day after the market witnessed chaotic sell-off on fears of a political turmoil after the government lost a bitterly contested Islam­abad seat in the elections to the Senate.

The KSE-100 index opened in the positive but the market remained volatile throughout the day. The index managed to climb to intraday high by 668 points before closing with gains of 559 points, or 1.23 per cent, at 45,837. It represented recovery of about three-quarters of the 882 points that the index had lost a day earlier.

Investors were believed to have taken heart by the belief that the prime minister would be able to secure a vote of confidence from the parliament on Saturday, which could dispel doubts of whether the government would continue to hold power.

The big stride of 5pc in international oil prices also went to improve sentiments and put some life in the reticent Exploration & Production stocks.

Foreign investors continued to liquidate positions on Friday with sale of stocks worth $2.22m and the mutual funds which were the major sellers on Thursday, disposed of stocks, but in the relatively smaller amount of $2.89m. Companies, individuals and insurance companies mopped up the liquidity.

The trading volume declined 28pc over the previous day to 317.2m shares.

Buying was witnessed in the cement, banking, fertiliser and power sectors. In cements, D.G. Khan, Maple Leaf and Lucky were picked up by investors, while Faysal Bank and Bank AlFalah were major gainers.

Investors interest was witnessed in the power sector as Kapco hit its upper circuit while Pakgen Power, Lalpir Power and Nishat Chunian also closed in the green. Stocks that were top contributors to the index gains included Pakistan Oilfield (46 points), OGDC (42 points), HBL (37 points), Lucky Cement (35 points) and TRG (33 points).

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2021