· Market continued to remain choppy ahead of mini-budget. The government had planned to take the cabinet’s nod to the Supplementary Finance Bill, 2021 to slap highly inflationary Rs360 billion in indirect taxes. Profit-taking was witnessed in the first trading hour then market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day. Main board volumes remained on the dull note whereas activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.

· The Index closed at 44,175pts as against 44,177pts showing a decrease of 2.1pts (0.0% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-28pts), Engineering (-14pts), Insurance (-11pts) and Chemicals (-6pts).

· Volumes decreased from 223.1mn shares to 151.8mn shares (-32.0% DoD). Traded value also decreased by 24.3% to reach US$ 36.9mn as against US$ 48.7mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include GGL, UNITY, TRG, WTL and CNERGY.

Courtesy – AHL