Index gains 179.81 points

Bullish trend continued at Karachi stock market on Friday on the back of strong interest of both local and foreign investors and KSE-100 index surged by 179.81 points to close at the 26-month high level of 10,882.00 points. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 10,923.07 points intra-day high, up 220.88 points.
Trading improved significantly and the volume at ready counter increased to 195.218 million shares as compared to 125.914 million shares traded on Thursday. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 47 billion to Rs 2.974 trillion. Of 369 active scrips, 244 closed in positive and 103 in negative, while the value of 22 scrips remained unchanged.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 33.706 million shares and gained Re 0.61 to close at Rs 11.50. Jahangir Siddiqui Co increased by Re 0.63 to close at Rs 10.79 with 17.758 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 1.58 to close at Rs 53.39 with 12.771 million shares.
D G Khan Cement and Lucky Cement increased by Rs 1.38 and Re 0.96 to close at Rs 29.03 and Rs 73.18 with 11.466 million shares and 5.150 million shares respectively. Nishat Power gained Re 0.40 to close at Rs 15.24 with 7.453 million shares. Byco Petroleum inched up by Re 0.33 to close at Rs 11.75 with 7.286 million shares. Hub Power gained Re 0.62 to close at Rs 34.16 with 6.492 million shares.
NBP and BoP increased by Rs 1.08 and Re 0.01 to close at Rs 66.00 and Rs 10.07 with 6.224 million shares and 4.743 million shares respectively. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Pak were the best gainers increasing by Rs 85.47 and Rs 50.00 to close at Rs 1858.47 and Rs 4100.00 respectively, while Colgate Palmolive were the worst losers declining by Rs 34.69 and Rs 22.45 to close at Rs 821.83 and Rs 426.65 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that bullish activity continued on strong foreign interest in blue chip scrips as global capital market rallied on US Federal Reserve decision for pumping $600 billion bonds to support the US economy.
He said that strong institutional and retail investors'' interest, led by oil and gas sector witnessed rise in international oil prices near to $87. Furthermore, positive meeting between KSE directors and expectation for early release of next IMF tranche of $1.7 billion also played a catalyst role in positive activity at the local bourse, he added.