Todays session was particularly volatile with gain of close to 200pts in the morning and a loss of over 200pts in the afternoon. Briefly the index fell below 36000 but ended just over at 36061. Fauji cement received another pummeling closing 5pc lower. PPL, FFC, FCCL and MCB weighed down the index by 165pts. Feroz1888 and LUCK helped it to recover 75pts.

With the impending budget on June 3, volatility is expected with lower participation.

The market ended down 460pts to close at 36234 on relatively lower turnover of 205mln shares and value traded of Rs9.2bln. Overall sentiment was hit hard by news of closure of FCCL's production line, uncertainty over the budget on June 3rd and the PM's open heart surgery on Tuesday. Value loss was pretty much across the board with blue chips and small caps hurt equally. MCB, HBL, OGDC, HUBC, FCCL, LUCK cost the index 240pts.

We expect the market to remain volatile.

The market closed down 83pts despite opening strong and gaining 200pts on crude oils strong performance. Turnover was healthy at 270mln shares though value traded was off by 20pc at Rs9bln. Big cap stocks ticked lower. Overall the market was tepid.

Overall investors are likely to factor crude oil prices from this point onwards and upcoming budget newsflow. Should crude prices rally significantly beyond this level the market could sail higher on the back of E&P'S.