Index gains 47.63 points

The KSE-100 index on Friday increased by 47.63 points to close at 12,377.77 points on the back of fresh buying, mainly in heavyweight oil sector stocks. The market opened on a strong positive note and the index breached 12,400 points level to hit 12,420.67 points intra-day high. However, the index failed to sustain above 12,400 level due to absence of follow-up support.
Trading shrank and the volume at ready counter declined to 102.591 million shares as compared to 111.861 million shares traded on Thursday. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 4 billion to Rs 3.279 trillion. Of 347 active scrips, 137 closed in negative and 121 in positive, while the values of 89 stocks remained unchanged.
SilkBank was the volume leader with 23.590 million shares and gained Re 0.10 to close at Rs 3.00. Fatima Fertiliser Co increased by Re 0.23 to close at Rs 14.75 with 7.879 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co lost Re 0.07 to close at Rs 7.96 with 5.906 million shares. Fauji Cement (R) closed at the same level of Re 0.04 with 5.458 million shares. Arif Habib Corp gained Re 0.90 to close at Rs 25.53 with 4.677 million shares. D G Khan Cement lost Re 0.43 to close at Rs 23.49 with 4.647 million shares. BoP inched up by Re 0.02 to close at Rs 7.00 with 3.846 million shares.
PPL surged by Rs 1.44 to close at Rs 212.24 with 3.763 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim inched by Re 0.01 to close at Rs 44.04 with 3.291 million shares. Azgard Nine gained Re 0.07 to close at Rs 6.71 with 3.164 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the highest gainers, increasing by Rs 137.17 and Rs 114.90 to close at Rs 5337.17 and Rs 3593.78 respectively, while National Refinery and Attock Refinery were the worst losers, declining by Rs 7.00 and Rs 5.13 to close at Rs 368.63 and Rs 127.51 respectively. Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities said that the increase in international oil prices, local oil production sector remained in positive helped KSE-100 index to close 47.63 points up. However, refinery sector came under selling pressure after the release of lower production number feared earnings'' decline of the sector.