Yesterday’s across the board profit booking saw some respite today with E&P and Fertilizer taking charge of the Index. International crude oil prices inched up further, which helped price performance in OGDC, PPL and POL. Similarly, fertilizer stocks also took cue from a recent uptick in Urea offtake. Cement, Technology, Refinery sector stocks which have led the growth in Index from 39500 level saw consistent profit booking and kept the growth in index in check. Although the Index added a total of 305pts during the session, the closing half hour brought the index down with ending the trail for Index +95pts (unadjusted). Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 29M shares, followed by PRL (28.1M) and HASCOL (22.8M).

· The Index closed at 43,360pts as against 43,251pts showing an increase of 109pts (+0.3% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+90pts), Technology (+49pts), Fertilizer (+47pts), Textile (+20pts), Cement (-53pts) and Power (-22pts).

· Volumes declined from 702.2mn shares to 433mn shares (-38% DoD). Average traded value also declined by 27% to reach US$ 133.3mn as against US$ 182.5mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, PRL, HASCOL, BYCO and ANL, which formed 27% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (+55pts), SYS (+46pts), ENGRO (+38pts), PPL (+27pts) and BAHL (+23pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (-18pts), LUCK (-13pts), DGKC (-12pts), MLCF (-11pts) and MTL (-10pts).

(AHL)