Index gains 153.78 points

Late buying, mainly by local investors, on Wednesday supported the KSE-100 index to register a healthy gain of 153.78 points to close at 8,916.18 points. Despite negative opening and heavy selling of $4.5 million by foreign investors, local investors' interest seemed to be reviving on the back of positive report by Credit Suisse, declining inflation rates in the country, and expectation of cut in interest rates, analysts said.
The market opened on a negative note and the index hit 8,685.87 points intra-day low, down 76.62 points due to investors concerns over prevailing political uncertainty and security concerns. However, the market witnessed support due to investors' interest at low levels and the index.
Trading also improved significantly and the volume at ready counter increased to 140.415 million shares as compared to 77.969 million shares traded on Tuesday. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 42 billion to Rs 2.579 trillion. Of 379 active scrips, 219 closed in positive and 138 in negative while the value of 22 scrips remained unchanged.
Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 21.701 million shares and gained Re. 0.22 to close at Rs 28.23. Arif Habib Sec increased by Rs 1.74 to close at Rs 47.75 with 16.336 million shares. PTCL closed at Rs 18.00, up Re. 0.23 with 10.196 million shares.
OGDC declined by Re. 0.34 to close at Rs 101.74 with 6.988 million shares. POL increased by Rs 8.76 to close at Rs 214.96 with 3.819 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 2.79 to close at Rs 59.26 with 5.305 million shares. DG Khan Cement gained Rs 1.13 to close at Rs 26.52 with 4.498 million shares. Azgard Nine closed at Rs 20.04, up Re. 0.26 with 4.261 million shares.
Attock Refinery surged by Rs 5.53 to close at Rs 133.93 with 4.192 million shares. MCB increased by Rs 4.02 to close at Rs 213.22 with 4.018 million shares. Siemens Pak and Unilever Food were the highest gainers and increased by Rs 64.64 and Rs 59.00 to close at Rs 1389.95 and Rs 1329.00 respectively, while Unilever Pakistan and Exide (Pak) were the worst losers and declined by Rs 10.50 and Rs 9.15 to close at Rs 2399.50 and Rs 175.20 respectively.
Khurram Schehzad at Invest Capital Securities said that investors' expectations over a cut in interest rate in upcoming monetary policy invited healthy buying at the local bourses in late hours. Despite heavy selling by foreigners, the local investors remained very active and took fresh positions on low levels. Rumours regarding improving outlook of the country by some foreign rating agencies, declining inflation rates and rising oil prices in the international market also encouraged local investors to take fresh positions.