KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded the gains for the second day on Wednesday with the KSE-100 index up by 109.03 points (0.34 per cent) and closing at 32,363.35.

The index opened slightly negative and remained volatile throughout the session as it moved between intraday high and low by 134 points and 74 points.

Cyclical sectors, cements and steels led the rally while oil and gas exploration heavyweights remained under pressure as Pakistan Oilf­ields, Pakistan Petro­leum Ltd and Oil and Gas Deve­lopment Company clos­ed in the red following decline in international oil prices.

Refineries and oil marketing companies remained unaffected. Cement sector grabbed the spotlight again on the back of potential increase in cement prices in northern region.

Further investor interest was generated by the news flow suggesting that the government is considering to allow builders and developers to invest in construction projects without questioning the source of equity.

Thus, Maple Leaf Cement Factory (MLCF), D. G. Khan Cement (DGKC), Cherat Cement and Pioneer Cement closed at their upper circuit, while other scrips showed varying gains.

Mixed sentiment was seen in the financials where Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) was up 4.3pc and United Bank Ltd (UBL) 1.3pc closed in the green zone while MCB Bank Ltd was down 1.1pc and Bank Al Habib Ltd 1.1pc came under pressure.

Fertilisers continued their downward drift with Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertiliser Company and Engro Fertiliser settling in the red.

Volumes maintained the level seen a day earlier with 181.3 million shares against 180.7m shares (up 0.3pc day-on-day).

Traded value increased by 8pc to reach $34.7m. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, Unity Foods, Worldcall Telecom Ltd, K-Electric and Fauji Cement Company Ltd (FCCL), which formed 36pc of total volumes. Cement sector led the volumes table with 46.2m shares traded.

Major contribution to upside is attributable to gains in HBL, up 4.32pc, UBL 1.33pc, National Bank of Pakistan 3.76pc, DGKC +4.99pc, Bank Al Falah Ltd 1.79pc, Pakistan State Oil 1.87pc, FCCL 4.66pc and Lucky Cement 0.94pc. Moving ahead, analysts said they expected uncertainty to prevail in the market given rise in political temperature, falling oil prices and the concerns over the FATF meeting outcome.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2019