· With the optimism of deferring the COVID lockdown, the market added 330pts earlier in the session today, however, government’s decision to impose strict lockdown in the face of rising COVID cases eroded all the earlier gains and caused the Index to tumble and close -257pts. Banks, O&GMCs, Cement, Chemical, Refinery and Technology sectors bore the brunt of lockdown, whereas steel sector performed well due to announcement of price increase by flat steel manufacturers. Among scrips, WTL led the table with 39.2M shares, followed by BYCO (38.4M) and TELE (24.6M).

· The Index closed at 47,056pts as against 47,312pts showing a decline of 257pts (-.5% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (-54pts), Fertilizer (-45pts), Cement (-35pts), Banks (-27pts) and Textile (-17pts).

· Volumes increased from 376.4mn shares to 399.1mn (6% DoD). Average traded value also increased by 12% to reach US$ 84.8mn as against US$ 75.7mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BYCO, TELE, HUMNL and TPL, which formed 34% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include EFERT (+12pts), MEBL (+11pts), PSX (+10pts), HMB (+9pts) and SCBPL (+8pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-47pts), FFC (-44pts), HBL (-39pts), LUCK (-23pts) and PPL (-17pts).

Courtesy – AHL