The trading session on Wednesday could aptly be named, “Fertiliser Day” at the local bourse as the sector played a dominant role and the index sustained a rise of 52 points and a staggering 151 million share volume to close at 12,367 points.
Investor confidence revived owing to positive triggers in stocks of oil and fertiliser companies which led volumes to improve to 151 million shares. FATIMA led the pack, rallying 4.4 per cent with 40 million shares and ended the day 1.7 per cent higher after rumours of another round of urea price hike.
The fertiliser rally can be attributed to the quarterly pre-result optimism that has been building up as we wind down the final weeks of the reporting period. While the majority of the oil sector encompassed profitability, OGDC made its presence felt by accounting for 40 points in today’s total gain, closing 1.5 per cent higher than its previous day.
Though it seems as if investors have come to terms with the budget announcement and are making their strategic plans accordingly, there is no shining light at the end of this tunnel; hence the market maintained its cautious measures.
The scarcity of fertiliser in Punjab did provide investors an opportunity to build a fresh position in fertiliser stocks mainly those that offer decent yields, thus keeping the main board and mid-tier stocks of the sector.
However, it failed to maintain the bull-run for the third consecutive session thus proving to be fatal for short-term traders as the stock declined three percent from the intra-day high, mainly due to a sharp pricing decline in volume and volatility and corporate offloading.
Overall activity at the local bourse allowed the local equity market to display decent numbers on board, in terms of both value and volume, but certainly not without high expectations regarding the likely change in CGT implementation mode.
