Today Market was dominated by mark to market activity by institutions (as today’s settlement falls on December 31st) as well as partly due to profit booking. Stocks having high weightage on Index (OGDC, PPL, HBL, UBL, MCB) traded at and near similar rates as they were on September 2020 end. Positive news abound, Investors resorted to profit booking today which was evident in E&P, Banks, Cement, Power and Fertilizer sectors with the view that they will be able to buy back at lower rates. Incidence of new strain of corona cases also caused concern among Investors. Among scrips, UNITY topped the volumes with 41.3M shares, followed by KEL (38.1M) and PRL (32M).

· The Index closed at 43,256pts (Unadjusted) as against 43,674pts showing a decline of 419pts (-1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-136pts), E&P (-78pts), Cement (-71pts), Fertilizer (-60pts) and Power (-46pts).

· Volumes increased from 463.4mn shares to 501.3mn shares (+8% DOD). Average traded value also increased by 11% to reach US$ 130.7mn as against US$ 117.8mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, KEL, PRL, TRG and PAEL, which formed 33% of total volumes.

· Stocks that contributed positively to the index include SEARL (+14pts), TRG (+13pts), MEBL (+11pts), UNITY (+9pts) and AKBL (+8pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-63pts), MCB (-42pts), HUBC (-42pts), UBL (-38pts) and ENGRO (-35pts).