The market gyrated wildly today moving from a low of -826pts to a high of 842pts, bringing the days fluctuation to an unpreceden. ted 1668pts, at least since 3rd quarter 2015. It closed well in the green at 47603, up 729pts. Turnover shot up to 265mln shares as did value traded at Rs15.28bln. Up until yesterday the KSE100 index was down 993pts since the start of the year. Todays sharp rebound limited that fall to 264pts.

The plunge at the opening bell opened up values for bargain hunters. SNGP, EFOODS, PAEL and FCCL closed at upper circuit with ENGRO, GHNL, NML and OGDC bringing up the rear with 3pc gains.

PRL, ISL and ASL were the laggards for the day.

Todays sharp rebound with better turnover lays the basis for cautious optimism once the Panama judgment is out of the way.

The market continued its meltdown closing lower 250pts at 46874. Volumes were 164mln shares while value traded was Rs9.4bln. Delay in announcement of the Panama verdict has made activity moribund, posting triple digit declines on low volumes. Lack of liquidity has certainly not helped sentiment. On top of that quarterly announcements have so far lacked excitement. That said, it may be noted that as of today the index is down 2108pts since Feb 23 when the verdict was reserved. Fertilizers, Banks, Chemicals and Pharma have been hit most by the slide. Cements and Steel have evaded eroding values by far. 

This year outflow has been USD159mln compared to USD338mln in 2016. However the outflow has shown signs of abating as the MSCI upgrade looms in May. April has seen an inflow of USD 3.5mln till yesterday.

The figure below shows most actively traded scrips by value and their percentage change in price expressed as an index with 1 being the base. A 0.01 increase reflects a 1 percentage change in price since Feb 23. 

DCL has lost 35pc, KEL 18pc, NBP 8pc, BOP 21pc, NML 10pc, ENGRO 9pc and TRG 9pc.

EPCL, PRL and MARI outperformed the market in a big way.

With positive economic newsflow regarding the country continuing, we believe values could open up as soon as this damaging Panama case uncertainty is out of the way, especially in Construction and related materials and MSCI EM stocks.

The market closed up 54pts at 47943 with lackluster volumes, notching up the lowest volume since july 2016. Trading was volatile with the index moving between 207pts plus and 157pts minus. Notwithstanding the impending Panama Verdict the market is taking a breather from 6 consecutive quarters of gains. Till last week the index has declined for 5 consecutive weeks. In the last few days bargain hunters have snapped up stocks which opened up value after drifting lower. 

The days movers were SML, SHEL, PSMC and ANL while PKGI, SSGC, ASL and GLAXO were the worst hit among actively traded scrips.

Fundamental strengths in corporate earnings remain encouraging especially in the construction and allied engineering sectors and are likely to come into focus as the next earnings season kicks off and MSCI re rating launches.

The market ended the week down 266pts to close at 47889. Average turnover during the week fell sharply 38pc to 155mln shares while value traded fell 28pc to Rs8.4bln. The week was characterized by caution due to the upcoming Panama verdict. Sentiment was further aggravated by regulatory action against a brokerage firm. However during the last day of the week the market saw bargain hunters take positions in stocks which had drifted lower. Cement sector saw buying interest on the back of solid uptake numbers for march. Resurgent crude oil prices helped oil stocks regain some lost ground. That said, for the week cumulatively, stocks were largely unchanged with the exception of NBP, BOP and PRL which fell upto 10pc.

Net inflow during the week was USD9.3mln.

While market fundamentals remain intact we expect Panama verdict to give direction to the market.

The market finished a bleak session about 400pts below the lowest close for this year. Todays trading left the KSE100 index surrender all gains this year ending with a deficit of over 200pts year to date, to close at 47577. Volumes remained thin with 185mln shares changing hands while value traded was Rs.8.8bln. Volumes were generally skewed towards small cap which is why value traded stayed low. Impending Panama Verdict, absence of positive triggers, low liquidity left the market moving sharply lower in search of support at lower levels. 

Declines were across the board with 292 shares closing down. 

Keeping in view thin trading volumes we expect volatility till the verdict is announced. Clarity on this issue could help the market regain its bearing.