KARACHI: The stock market snapped the three-day losing streak on Friday with the KSE-100 index recovering 81.91 points (0.18 per cent) to close at 45,542.78.

Investors put politics on the back burner as the excitement over budget anticipation seized their attention. Intermarket Securities said that the volatility surged ahead of the budget on mixed opinions and news flow relating to the proposals. Earnings season also influenced market behaviour.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti observed that the stocks’ recovery was led by oil, banking and auto scrips in the earnings season rally at PSX as investors speculated on rationalisation of tax measures. Upbeat data of textile exports in March and State Bank intervention to stem the fall of the rupee further played a catalyst role in the bullish close.

During the day, the index went as high as 211 points but due to mixed expectations from the budget, early gains were parred in the second session as nervous investors decided to wait and see what was in store before taking fresh positions.

The volume soared 32pc over the previous day to 224.6 million shares as punters put their bets on speculative shares. Leaders were Byco Petroleum, Fatima Fertiliser Company, Matco Foods, Lotte Chemical and Unity Foods, representing 35pc of the aggregate share.The traded value also climbed 38pc to Rs9.9 billion.

Sector-wise major contributions were made by fertiliser at 85 points and banks 62 points. On the other side, cement was lower by 64 points, engineering 20 points and textile 19 points.

Stocks that turned out to be the leading gainers included Fauji Fertiliser, up 4.27pc, United Bank 1.44pc, Pakistan Services 4.89pc, Bank of Punjab 9.44pc and Oil and Gas Development Company 0.78pc, adding 149 points to the index. On the flip side, Lucky Cement was down 1.84pc, Nishat Mills 3.96pc and Pakistan Oilfields 1.32pc took away 72 points.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2018