The KSE-100 index on Friday gained 51.24 points to close at 11,353.46 points on the back of local investors and institutional support. After opening in positive, the index briefly visited negative zone, down 3.00 points, at 11,299.25 points intra-day low level due to profit taking by foreign investors.
However, fresh buying by local investors and institutions supported the index to recover its intra-day losses to hit 11,357.96 points intra-day high level. Foreign investors remained net sellers and withdrew $0.48 million from the local equity market. Trading remained low and the volume at ready counter declined to 46.70 million shares as compared to 54.11 million shares traded on Thursday.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 13 billion to Rs 3.015 trillion. Of 344 active stocks, 153 closed in positive and 104 in negative, while the values of 87 stocks remained unchanged. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim was the volume leader with 5.55 million shares and gained Re 0.69 to close at Rs 53.44. Lotte Pakistan PTA inched up by Re 0.07 to close at Rs 12.87 with 4.43 million shares.
Nishat Mills increased by Re 0.47 to close at Rs 47.73 with 3.09 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co gained Re 0.20 to close at Rs 5.90 with 3.05 million shares. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that bullish activity was witnessed, led by blue chip oil and fertiliser sector scrips after global stocks rally on Greece support by Eurozone members and government resumes payments to IPPs in Pakistan energy sector.
He said that bullish sentiment prevailed on hopes for early settlement of security concerns in the city after Supreme Court reserved ruling on Karachi unrest. The higher local commodity prices and strong institutional support played a catalyst role in the positive sentiment in the earnings announcement session ahead of policy announcement by SBP this month end, he added.