Karachi stocks ended the week on a positive note Friday gaining 33 points to close at 33,954.98 compared to the 33,921.96 points Thursday. "Stocks showed recovery led by select scrips across-the-board," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp. A sharp recovery in global equities invited late session support in select oil scrips, the analyst added. "Dividend payout announcements by OGDC, record earnings in the banking sector and short relief of 0.2 percent charge on banking transactions of non-filers played a catalytic role in the positive close," Mehanti said.
Trading turnover, however, fell to 132 million shares from Thursday's 145 million. The value of stocks traded rose to Rs 7.50 billion from Rs 7.23 billion of last session. The market cap inched up from Rs 7.25 trillion to Rs 7.26 trillion while foreign investors made a net selling of $5.03 million. Jahangir Siddiqui Company led the volume with 10.4 million turnover. The scrip rose from Rs 20.14 to Rs 20.65.
Others which performed well were TRG Pakistan 10 million, Byco Petroleum 7.3 million, Pak Elektron 7.1 million, SNGPL 5.6 million, Pak Refinery 4.6 million, SSGC 4.2 million, TRG Pakistan (R) 3.5 million, Fauji Cement 3.5 million and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 3.1 million shares. Futures trade grew to 21.3 million contracts from 20.5 million a day earlier.