Bench-mark 100-share index of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) continues progress in a green zone on the fourth consecutive day, gaining 404.34 points or 1.45 per cent to close at fresh all time high 28,336.36 points. An analyst, Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said: "Pakistan stocks closed yet again at all time high led by stocks across the board on a renewed foreign interest after the MSCI decision on Frontier Market Index for Pakistan's weight raise to 8.9 per cent from 4.3 per cent till November-14."
"Easing circular debt concerns following NEPRA tariff raised by 70 per cent in Karachi, rupee stability, expectations for the country's risk premium reduction following the MOF road-shows for US $500m foreign inflows via Eurobond and speculations ahead of quarter end earning announcements due next week played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments on KSE," he said. Samar Iqbal, Assistant Vice President, Topline Securities (Pvt) Ltd said: "Continuous foreign and local fund managers' support index kept rising on the 4th consecutive day to close above 28,300 points mark for the first time ever".
"Prevailing a positive sentiment over improving economic and external fronts kept market in the bullish zone with stocks like the OGDC, PPL, POL, MCB, PSO and LUCK kept dominating the gains. With volumes rose to 488 million shares last seen 10 months ago, value in Pak Rupee also rose to Rs 14.2 billion. The LPCL led the volume with 64 million shares followed by NIB with 49 million shares and the SMBL with 38 million shares. Of 386 active companies, 222 gained at close while 140 witnessed decline in share prices," she said. Trading took place in 387 scrips, out of which 222 closed in positive and 141 scrips were closed with minus sign while the value of 24 scrips remained unchanged.
Lafarge Pak was the volume leader with 62.33 million shares and gained Re 0.49 in intra-day trading to close at Rs 12.04 while NIB Bank Limited was second in a row up by Re 0.39 to close at Rs 2.79 with 48.93 million shares. Summit Bank closed at Rs 4.54, rose by Re 0.46 with 38.23 million shares. SilkBank Limited gained Re0.34 to close at Rs 2.64 with 24.26 million shares. Lotte Chemical went up by Re 0.36 to close at Rs 8.26 with 23.76 million shares. Fauji Cement XD increased by Re0.51 to close at Rs 18.37 with 20.41 million shares. B O Punjab closed at Rs 10.66, down by Re0.03 with 14.55 million shares. Faysal Bank gained Re 0.39 to close at Rs 14.6 with 13.87 million shares. TRG Pakistan Ltd closed at Rs 15.04, up by Re0.97, with 10.59 million shares. National Bank XD increased by Rs 2.06 to close at Rs 57.43 with 9.97 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Nestle Pak Spot were the highest gainers and increased by Rs 213.14 and Rs 189.80 to close at Rs 8,900 and Rs 8,200 respectively, while Rafhan Maize XD and Bata (Pak) were the worst losers and declined by Rs 100 and Rs 68.99 to close at Rs 8,600 and Rs 2,925, respectively.