Karachi, July 28, 2021 (PPI-OT): View from the desk

The local bourse opened on a positive note and went on to touch an intraday high of +188 points in the initial hours. However, after trading sideways for most of the day, a sharp across-the-board selloff was seen closer to the end of the session. The index declined to a low of -445 points and an eventual closed at 47,318. Traded volume stood at 366mn shares with WTL (-4.5%), BYCO (-1.6%), TELE (-1.4%), UNITY (-5.5%), KEL (-0.3%) and HUMNL (-5.8%) being the highest contributors to volume.

On the economic front, the IMF has revised upward the GDP growth projection for Pakistan to 3.9 percent for FY21 and the SBP maintained the policy rate at 7% to support economic growth. Going forward, in light of the rising COVID-19 cases and stricter restrictions, we recommend investors to adopt a buy on dips strategy in Banks and E and Ps.