A bullish trend continued on the Karachi share market on Thursday on the back of local investors and institutional support and the KSE-100 index surged by 93.2 points to close at 12,404.24 points. The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew dollars 1.99 million from the country's equity market.
The market opened on a strong positive note and the index hit 12,418.32 points intra-day high level. The index remained in green throughout the session. Trading improved significantly as the daily volumes at ready counter increased to 205.563 million shares as compared to 172.08 million shares traded on Wednesday. Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 26 billion to Rs 3.233 trillion. Of the total 335 active stocks, 149 closed in positive and 115 in negative while the value of 71 scrips remained unchanged.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 22.91 million shares and gained Re 0.36 to close at Rs 4.98. Lafarge Pakistan inched up by Re 0.11 to close at Rs 2.36 with 11.785 million shares. DG Khan Cement increased by Re 0.81 to close at Rs 25.68 with 9.868 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co lost Re 0.10 to close at Rs 9.17 with 20.853 million shares.
In the banking sector, Bank Al-Falah and BoP gained Re 0.12 and Re 0.08 to close at Rs 12.95 and Rs 7.16 with 15.763 million shares and 5.312 million shares respectively. Azgard Nine decreased by Re 0.02 to close at Rs 6.13 with 10.669 million shares. Fatima Fertilizer Co increased by Re 0.51 to close at Rs 23.98 with 8.893 million shares. Arif Habib Co inched up by Re 0.25 to close at Rs 31 with 7.894 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA closed at Rs 8.58, up Re 0.03 with 6.515 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Unilever Pak were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 95.3 and Rs 60.2 to close at Rs 2808.2 and Rs 5485.2 respectively while Bata (Pak) Limited and Siemens Pakistan were the worst losers declining by Rs 26.42 and Rs 14.44 to close at Rs 720 and Rs 821.16 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that Pakistan stocks turned bullish amid higher volumes after healthy earning announcements and renewed institutional and local investors' interest. He said that strong earnings outlook in cements, oil and banks, higher global commodities, positive political outlook after government and opposition joined hands to push National Assembly for interim set-up and restoration of law makers played a catalyst role in bullish sentiment at KSE.