KARACHI: The stock market on Tuesday rallied on strong corporate earning anno­un­cements and talks between the government and TLP made progress allay­­­ing investor fears. The benchmark KSE 100-index gained 486.21 points, or 1.08 per cent, to close at 45,399.78 points.

Arif Habib Ltd stated that although the results of key companies posted healthy growth, the pertinent stock prices did not respond in the same fashion. Among the key results announced were Habib Bank, International Steel, Aisha Steel, Meezan Bank, however, their price performance remained muted.

Aisha Steel on the other hand went down post annou­ncement due to selling pressure.

Technology stocks, particularly Telecard and TRG, helped change the sentiment tide early on, when TRG announced material information regarding one of its subsidiaries, which resulted in the scrip showing bids at upper circuit in the pre-open session.

National Clearing Company of Pakistan figures released in the evening showed individuals bought equities worth $3.20m followed by foreign investors who picked up shares worth $0.783m, while companies sold shares worth $2.141m, banks $2.132m and mutual funds $1.593m.

Sectors contributing to the performance include technology (121 points), banks (78 points), cement (37 points), fertiliser (35 points) and textile (26 points).

The trading volume dipped 6pc to 343.3m shares from 363m shares and the traded value, however, incre­ased by 10pc to $92.9m as aga­­inst $84m. Worldcall, Unity Foods, Ghani Global Ltd and Telecard contributed 42pc to the total total turnover.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (124 points), Habib Bank (36 points), Unity Foods (25 points), Lucky Cement (21 points) and Colgate Palmolive (20 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include Mari Petroleum (12 points), Engro Ploymer (11 points), MCB Bank (7 points), POL (6 points) and National Refinery (three points).

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2021