Index gains 169.94 points

Bullish trend prevailed at the Karachi share market during the week ended on April 19, 2010 on the back of foreign investors' interest, and the KSE-100 index surged by 169.94 points to close at 10,586.46 points.
Local investors also joined the rally, resulting in increased trading activity. The average daily volume at ready counter increased by 45 percent to 26-week high of 252.187 million shares as compared to previous week's 174.191 million shares.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 42 billion to Rs 2.993 trillion.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $21.9 million. However, individual investors and financial institutions were net sellers of $11.7 million and $17.1 million, respectively.
On Monday, the market opened on a positive note and the index rose by 31.32 points to close at 10,447.84 points level, with a volume of 222.521 million shares.
On Tuesday, the investor opted for profit taking and the index lost 28.02 points to close at 10,419.82 points, with 244.706 million shares turnover. On Wednesday, the market witnessed healthy trading activity on the back of interest of both local and foreign investors and the index surged by 103.19 points to 10,523.01 points with a turnover of 300.746 million shares.
On Thursday, the index gained 10.56 points to close at 10,533.57 points level with 245.291 million shares. On Friday, positive trend continued and the index increased by 52.89 points to close the week at 10,586.46 points level with 247.673 million shares.
Angela Memon, analyst at JS Global Capital, said that despite the news of likelihood of fiscal deficit crossing the revised 5.1 percent target in FY10, the market remained unaffected, as the rupee gained 0.5 percent against the $ and the T-Bill yields fell by 8-10bps. The latter development hinted at interest rates coming down in future. The passage of the 18th amendment by the parliament was a clear sign of harmony on the political front.
The banking scrips benefited on the positive outlook emerging from the quarterly sector results suggesting that provisions were heading south. Apart from this, a variety of stocks remained in the limelight. Farhan Bashir Khan at Invest Capital and Securities said that the index carried on with its buying momentum while foreign inflows were once again key contributing factor backing the revival. Select buying was observed in index heavyweights and blue chip scrips of oil and fertiliser sectors. Increased activity was clearly observed in a select of low-tier stocks, which still indicated lack of thrust across the board. Still, recent spree of fresh IPOs, with the latest one being Wateen Telecom, indicated revived confidence in the capital market while enriching the depth of the market. Meanwhile, the breeze of political consensus in the wake of unanimous approval of the 18th amendments by the National Assembly injected a fresh wave of optimism in addition to reviving confidence in the present democratic set-up of the country.