Stocks end up after seesaw session

Stocks closed marginally up after a see-saw trade on Tuesday amid lack of domestic as well as global cues, dealers said.

“Lackluster activity was observed for most part of the day, as the index continuously juggled between positive and negative zone with low volumes,” brokerage Topline Securities said in a post market note. “The directionless trade can be attributed to lack of triggers.”

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.61 percent or 189.75 points to close at 31,222.74 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a high of 0.69 percent or 95.36 points to end at 13,819.61 points level.

Of 327 active scrips, 209 moved up, 95 retreated, and 23 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 130.415 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 153.875 million shares in the previous session.

Dealers said some buying was observed in the last hours of the trade, on the back of expectations that some exemptions from lockdown would be provided to the industry.

The late buying was most noticeable in the textile sector, as Nishat Mills and Nishat Chunian from the sector gained to close at their respective upper circuits.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib said the market throughout the session moved around development whether the government would ease lock down and would allow some sectors to open or not.

However, the trend mostly has been under consolidation phase as it appeared certain that the construction sector would get some leeway, which resulted in heavy buying in cement and steel groups where shares leaped upwards.

“Moreover, gains in crude oil price helped generate momentum in the local oil and exploration stocks, Ahmad added.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said stocks showed some recovery amid thin trade on expectation in the earnings season.

He added that government endeavours to resolve over Rs2 trillion circular debt and power sector dues, expectation of receiving $1.4 billion in International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan relief, Asian Development Bank (ADB) approvals on $800 million relief over

virus outbreak, and FATF extension for compliance to October 2020 played a catalytic role in the positive close.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in its market report said major reason behind the positivity was government’s consideration on following smart lockdown/partial opening up of businesses across the country that raised hopes among investors for return to normalcy.

The top gainers were Millat Tractor, up Rs39.08 to close at Rs644.16/share, and Sapphire Fibre, up Rs37.64 to finish at Rs718.64/share.

Nestle Pakistan, down Rs353.50 to close at Rs5,810.00/share, and Service Industries Limited, down Rs20.45 to close at Rs700.00/share, were the main losers.

Maple Leaf recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 11.406 million shares. The scrip gained Re0.74 to end at Rs23.05/share. The lowest volumes were witnessed in Flying Cement, recording a turnover of 4.069 million shares, whereas its scrip lost Re0.26 to end at Rs8.49/share.