Index gains 52.72 points

Renewed institutional and foreign investors'' interest on dips on Monday supported the KSE-100 index to register an increase of 52.72 points to close at 11,932.68 points. After positive opening, the index breached 12,000 points level to hit 12,001.83 points intra-day high, up 121.87 points. However, profit taking in late hours minimised the gains.
Trading improved and the volume at ready counter increased to 78.651 million shares as compared to 64.662 million shares traded on last trading session. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 13 billion to Rs 3.170 trillion. Of 354 active scrips, 144 closed in positive and 125 in negative, while the values of 85 scrips remained unchanged.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 8.175 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.03 to close at Rs 15.62. Azgard Nine gained Re 0.42 to close at Rs 5.99 with 8.088 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co increased by Re 0.63 to close at Rs 6.75 with 7.558 million shares. D G Khan (R) lost Re 0.08 to close at Rs 2.54 with 5.419 million shares. PTCL inched up by Re 0.08 to close at Rs 17.06 with 3.083 million shares.
NBP and BoP increased by Re 0.56 and Re 0.20 to close at Rs 52.85 and Rs 5.30 with 2.957 million shares and 2.859 million shares respectively. SilkBank lost Re 0.03 to close at Rs 2.77 with 2.752 million shares. Nishat Mills declined by Re 0.14 to close at Rs 58.89 with 2.679 million shares. Engro Corp surged by Rs 4.52 to close at Rs 198.34 with 2.209 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Bata Pak were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 76.06 and Rs 20.51 to close at Rs 5100.00 and Rs 434.52 respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and Wyeth Pak were the worst losers declining by Rs 16.86 and Rs 14.89 to close at Rs 3399.24 and Rs 800.00 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investment said that positive close was witnessed on renewed institutional and foreign investors'' interest in the blue chip scrips. He said that the investors remained bullish ahead of meetings of the government officials with donors World Bank, IMF and ADB this week leading to expected disbursement of next tranche for Pakistan economic support. According to him, the stable political climate and strong valuations in banking, fertiliser and oil sector scrips played a catalyst role in positive close at KSE despite fall in global commodities and uncertainty in global capital markets.