Market continued trading in a narrow range amid below 200M trading volumes as observed in the past couple of sessions. Uncertainty on lockdown and rising COVID cases amid finalization of IMF review, kept the market in limbo with HBL, UBL and LUCK adding some points to the contribution pulled back by OGDC, PPL and DGKC. International oil prices also remained range bound causing E&P stocks to trade in a narrow range, especially POL. Banking sector, overall, helped the Index climb 230pts during the session, however, ended the session +26pts.

· The Index closed at 40,541pts as against 40,515pts showing an increase of 26pts (+0.1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-16pts), Inv Banks (-15pts), Cement (+17pts), Technology (+16pts) and Banks (+15pts).

· Volumes increased from 145.8mn shares to 188.5mn shares (+30% DoD). Average traded value also increased by 28% to reach US$ 50mn as against US$ 39.1mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, FABL, ASL and NETSOL, which formed 37% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HBL (+27pts), TRG (+21pts), LUCK (+17pts), UBL (+11pts) and ILP (+8pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include BAHL (-22pts), DAWH (-15pts), PPL (-13pts), OGDC (-12pts) and FFC (-7pts).

(AHL)