Index gains 254.22 points

A bullish trend was witnessed on the Karachi share market on Wednesday on the back of aggressive buying by local investors and institutions and the KSE-100 index breached 13,900 psychological level. The index registered healthy gains of 254.22 points and closed at the level of 13,945.30 points.
The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew 0.94 million dollars from the local equity market. Trading activities also improved significantly as the daily volumes increased to 409.301 million shares as compared to 318.143 million shares traded on Tuesday. Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 64 billion to Rs 3.575 trillion. Of the total 369 active stocks, 228 closed in positive and 85 in negative while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.
Lafarge Pakistan was the volume leader with 30.369 million shares and gained Re 0.29 to close at Rs 5.11. In other cement sector stocks, DG Khan Cement inched up by Re 0.86 to close at Rs 38.62 with 18.587 million shares. Azgard Nine increased by Re 0.74 to close at Rs 10.02 with 26.210 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co surged by Rs 1.06 to close at Rs 22.77 with 25.243 million shares. Hub Power Company increased by Rs 1.56 to close at Rs 38.00 with 23.349 million shares. WorldCall Telecom gained Re 0.33 to close at Rs 3.37 with 17.512 million shares.
In the banking sector, Bankislami and Bank Al Falah inched up by Re 0.98 and Re 0.40 to close at Rs 9.93 and Rs 16.90 with 15.339 million shares and 12.572 million shares respectively. PTCL gained Re 0.13 to close at Rs 12.62 with 12.252 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Bata (Pak) Limited were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 127.00 and Rs 28.68 to close at Rs 2667.00 and Rs 615.71 respectively, while Wyeth Pak and Ismail Industries were the worst losers declining by Rs 32.71 and Rs 3.86 to close at Rs 740.00 and Rs 73.39 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Co said the stocks closed bullish at KSE amid renewed institutional and local investors' interest led by blue chip oil and banking stocks ahead of quarter end earning announcements due next week. He said that the higher global commodities, rising cement prices, expectations for stronger quarter-end results, improvement in Pak-US relations played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE as investor expected early announcements on implementation of revised CGT regime.