According to a leading research house, the 100 Index continued its winning streak for the 4th consecutive session on the back of news flow that the government is contemplating the launch of market support fund on the lines of SEF (State Enterprise Fund) established in 2009. This grapevine took center stage last week when the broker community called on the Advisor to PM on Finance and demanded creation of a support fund managed by NIT. Herd behavior led to robust participation in today’s session (vol: +17% and val: +33% on d/d basis) in anticipation of 1) upcoming relief subject to the launch of market support fund, 2) reaching staff level agreement with the IMF, 3) relatively stable PKR and 4) evolving clarity on the upcoming budget. The 100 Index has gained 3,229pts (+9.98%) from its 52-wk low in just 4 trading sessions, hinting at the possibility of an imminent correction soon. Major gains are attributable to renewed buying in Materials (+4.42%), Financials (+2.65%) and Energy (+2.35%); thanks to ENGRO (+3.86%), FFC (+4.97%), LUCK (+5%), DAWH (+4.86%), EFERT (+3.69%), FCCL (+6.07%), DGKC (+5%), HBL (+2.72%), BAHL (+3.69%), UBL (+2.70%), MCB (+1.65%), BAFL (+3.26%), NBP (+4.98%), POL (+4.14%), PPL (+2.05%), PSO (+5%) and MARI (+5%).

Market participation for the 100 Index increased to 164.34mn shares from 140.77mn in the previous session (+16.74% on d/d basis). Major contribution to total market volume came from BOP (+0.16%), KEL (-1.37%) and UNITY (+5.58%) churning 47mn shares out of the All Share volume of 227.71mn shares. Daily traded value for the 100 Index increased to USD 42.33mn from USD 31.92mn in the previous session (+32.63% on d/d basis); UNITY (USD 5.10mn), LUCK (USD 3.01mn) and OGDC (USD 3.00mn) were among top contributors from traded value perspective. The KSE100 is 19.7% below its 52-week high from June 7, 2018 and 9.98% above its 52-week low from May 20, 2019.

Technically speaking, the 100 extended its gains and took out 20EMA (34,987) on daily charts in today’s session.