Index gains 165.93 points

Bullish trend continued at the Karachi share market during the three-day week ended on December 18, 2010 and KSE-100 index surged by 165.93 points to close at 11,786.09 points on the back of strong interest of foreign investors.
Trading, however, shrank and the average daily volume at ready counter declined to 148.21 million shares, or 18.8 percent, from previous week's 182.41 million shares.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 35 billion to Rs 3.204 trillion.
On Monday, the market witnessed mixed a trend and due to profit taking in some main board stocks the index lost 23.47 points to close at 11,596.69 points with volume of 182.161 million shares.
On Tuesday, investors' interest revived and the index gained 75.95 points to close at 11,672.64 points with 142.326 million shares.
On Wednesday, the market witnessed bullish trend and the index registered healthy increase of 113.45 points to close at the level of 11,786.09 points with 120.129 million shares.
The market remained closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Ashura.
Rabia Tariq, analyst at JS Global Capital, said that bullish trend continued at the bourse and increased activity was witnessed in oil & gas and banking sectors. Although there was some tension on the political front with JUI's breaking away from the coalition government, yet the oil stocks rallied on news of BP assets' sale. Further, the Abu Dhabi Group's (ABG) consideration of offloading its strategic stake in UBL helped generate interest in the scrip.
After rejecting a joint bid from OGDC and PPL, BP accepted UEG's offer for most of its assets for $775 million. The deal valued the assets at a premium to the current multiples, which in return heightened interest in the sector, leading the oil and gas sector to gain 2 percent on the last trading session. Moreover, news of one of UBL's sponsor shareholder, ABG, considering offloading its 30 percent stake led the scrip to gain 2 percent on week-on-week basis.
The remittance data continued to be among the most improved data sets, with the inflow rising by 8 percent on month-on-month basis to $927 million in November 2010 taking the five months of FY11 cumulative to rise by 16 percent on year-on-year basis to $4.4 billion. Foreign Investment however, was recorded at $143 million, down 7 percent on year-on-year basis in November. Moreover, unofficial figures released for November show the trade gap ballooning to $1.6 billion, with imports rising faster than the exports.