Backed by strong valuations of select scrips, the share market Thursday ended 121 points higher at 33,768 points. The benchmark KSE-100 index showed volatility in the intraday trade by hitting the session high and low of 33,815 and 33,606, respectively. "Stocks closed higher led by select scrips across the board on strong valuations," said Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp. Trade was led by second- and third-tier stocks amid speculations in the quarter-end earning announcement session, he added.
"Easing political noise, upbeat data on cement dispatches, oil and auto sales for Mar''16 played a catalytic role in the positive close at PSX despite pressure on reports for soaring govt debt near to 65pc GDP," the analyst said. Trading turnover rose to 189 million shares the value of which appreciated to Rs 9.29 billion from the previous Rs 8.43 billion. Of the 335 issues traded, 205 posted gains, 114 lost their worth and that of 16 remained unchanged.
While the market capital accumulated higher to Rs 6.96 trillion, the foreign portfolio investment reflected a negative trend to have marked $4.94 million outflow. TRG Pakistan, which stayed as the most-traded stock for the fourth consecutive session, declined to Rs 33.74 at close. Other to follow were Byco Petroleum, JSCL, Dewan Cement, National BankXD, Pak Elektron, Pak Refinery, PTCL, SNGPL and Engro Fertilizer. Trade on futures market rose to 35 million contracts compared to 32 million of last session.
Market observers at Topline Research said political noise regarding sit-in at Islamabad subsided as major opposition party, PPP, refused to be a part of protest against the ruling PML-N.
"This relieved some stress at local bourse," they opined. The analysts said the results season attracted attention in stocks as better-than-expected results of Bank Al-Habib, Attock Cement Pakistan and Pakistan Telecommunication Company resulted in scripts increasing 0.7-2.7 percent. Refinery stocks, like Attock Refinery and National Refinery closed at their upper limit of five percent.