LAHORE
SYEDA MASOOMA
PSX index jumped high early in the day and touched the highest for today (Thursday, December 1st) at 43280.43 points. After that, the index started deteriorating before closing at 42907.36 points. Total traded volume for the day was around 1,263 crore shares at the value of approximately Rs18.5 crores. According to the Intermarket Securities Limited report, the only interesting segment for today’s trading was crude oil.
The year is coming to a close with all sorts of unexpected happenings for almost all facets that could affect the stock market. Brexit, US presidential elections as well as OPEC’s willingness to a production cut, the market was caught unprepared for all these events. The report said, “With OPEC being able to pull out a “Trump Card” (no pun intended) from under its sleeve and a subsequent 10 per cent rally in crude oil prices turning the table on oil bears, our local investors celebrated the jovial mood as per expectations.”
The exploration and production (E&P) remained in spotlight for the day with all four E&P companies trading at upper locks. Some profit taking was seen with OGDC (+4.06 per cent), POL (+4.79 per cent) and PPL (+4.48 per cent) closing well into green, but all of these were a tad bit below their intraday highs. Overall, the index opened with a gap (+410pts or +0.96 per cent) and closed up only 284.99 points (+0.66 per cent). Most of the downward movement after the early high was seen amid profit taking and unyielding foreign selling. However, the index performed better than previous readings, both in volume and value comparisons.
The initial push in the index came primarily from Textiles, Cements, Fertilizers, Oil Marketing Companies and Banks. On the flipside, Autos, Steel and Banks could not perform well and exerted downward pressure in the index. Banks showed negative movement including some notable names like MCB (-1.09 per cent), HBL (-1.47 per cent), BOP (-4.46 per cent) and NIB (-3.27 per cent.) The Steel manufacturers also had a bad day with MUGHAL (-2.22 per cent), ASTL (-0.59 per cent), ISL (-3.42 per cent), INIL (-1.19 per cent) and ASL (-3.62 per cent). The segment itself faced significant pressure as Steel futures fell sharply after Beijing stepped in to curb speculation.
In the Autos industry, majority of investors chose to book profits which led to PSMC (-0.07 per cent), HCAR (-0.51 per cent) and INDU (-0.45 per cent). Following the announcement on DLTL package which fell short of investor expectations, the Textile sector also showed a halt after back to back selling in the past few days. However, some of the textile manufacturers still managed to stay in the positive with NML (+3.18 per cent), NCL (+0.99 per cent), GATM (+1.71 per cent) and KTML (+1.52 per cent) trading well into green. In the star sector of today, PSO ($10mn), OGDC ($9.81mn) and POL ($7.98mn) topped the list of most value traded stocks.
The IMS report said, “Technically speaking, the 100 index staged a reversal to close above its 10EMA (42,740).”The index showed almost a reactive close, taking away most of the gains made before afternoon. According to the report, the index could further garner resistance at 43k. “Immediate supports are now at 42,583 (Yesterday’s low) & 42,447 (20EMA). Immediate resistance is 43,297.41 (all-time intraday high),” the report concluded.
