The index bore pressure of political uncertainty where Investors were found having apprehensions from Opposition parties’ protest rallies into full blown protests and sit-ins. Mid-day announcement of HBL’s financial results somewhat turned the tide and helped HBL trade near recent high levels. Brisk buying was also observed in Cement sector, particular DGKC, in last half hour that helped index close positive. Among stocks UNITY topped the volumes with 45M shares, followed by KOSM (20.7M) and HASCOL (15.2M).

· The Index closed at 40,164pts as against 40,069pts showing an increase of 95pts (+0.2% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+130pts), Textile (+12pts), Vanaspati (+11pts), E&P (-25pts), Food (-21pts) and Autos (-7pts).

· Volumes declined again from 324.8M shares to 254.2mn shares (-22% DoD). Average traded value also declined by 30% to reach US$ 47.6mn as against US$ 67.8mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, KOSM, HASCOL, FFBL and EPCL, which formed 40% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HBL (+100pts), MEBL (+26pts), UNITY (+11pts), FFBL (+11pts) and DGKC (+10pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-17pts), LUCK (-16pts), ENGRO (-13pts), FCEPL (-10pts) and FFC (-10pts) (AHL)