Market opened on a negative note today with -54pts and closed the first session -133pts. Index lost a total of 278pts during the session, however, buying activity in Banks, Cement, Refineries and Technology sector helped the index gain some points. The index closed -224pts (unadjusted). E&P and Cement sector stocks observed selling pressure primarily due to concerns on slow cement dispatches as well as staid crude prices. Among scrips, UNITY led the volumes with 53.4M shares, followed by TRG (45.8M) and KEL (23.1M).

· The Index closed at 40,807pts as against 41,031pts showing a decline of 224pts (-0.5% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-86pts), Cement (-51pts), Fertilizer (-38pts), Banks (-31pts) and O&GMCs (-23pts).

· Volumes increased from 389.2mn shares to 397.8mn shares (+2% DoD). Average traded value however, declined by 18% to reach US$ 82.5mn as against US$ 100.5mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, TRG, KEL, HUMNL and MLCF, which formed 41% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (+40pts), MTL (+17pts), COLG (+11pts), UNITY (+7pts) and SCBPL (+4pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-33pts), LUCK (-28pts), OGDC (-24pts), ENGRO (-22pts) and HUBC (-18pts).