Market opened on a negative note with -24pts and slipped a total of 137pts during the session, before Banking sector took the front seat and drove the index to recover the intra-day loss and put together an increase of 308pts. The index closed +240pts (unadjusted). MSCI semi-annual index review changes, which were made earlier in the month, had today as the effective date. Resultantly, MCB among banking sector and OGDC, PPL among E&P sector saw brisk activity. PSO also reacted to the prospect of share swap arrangement as proposed by the Petroleum Division to settle Circular debt among public sector entities in the energy chain. Although, international crude oil prices were down on the concerns of OPEC+ meeting scheduled for tomorrow, where deferment of oil supply till Q1, 2021 will be taken. Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 88.5M shares, followed by TRG (31.7M) and PRL (24.7M).

· The Index closed at 41,069pts as against 40,807pts showing an increase 262pts (+0.6% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (+57pts), Banks (+50pts), O&GMCs (+48pts), Cement (+36pts) and E&P (+25pts).

· Volumes declined from 397.8mn shares to 388.6mn shares (-2% DoD). Average traded value however, increased by 7% to reach US$ 88.2mn as against US$ 82.5mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, TRG, PRL, KEL and UNITY, which formed 47% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (+49pts), PSO (+39pts), MCB (+22pts), UBL (+20pts) and LUCK (+20pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include BAHL (-16pts), ENGRO (-16pts), PAKT (-11pts), FFC (-11pts) and KEL (-7pts).

(AHL)