Bullish activity continues, index rises 238 points

Bourse touches 12,000-point level.

KARACHI:

The stock market continued its recovery in the final trading session of the week, as the bourse gained 238 points.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 2.02 per cent or 238.03 points to end at 12,000.03 points.

Bullish activity continued for the fifth consecutive day, as finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh’s scheduled visit to the market on Saturday to formally launch the Margin Trading System (MTS) sparked a buying spree across the board, according to Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal.

The government’s understanding with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on oil prices, which resulted in a 50 per cent cut in the recent increase in petroleum product prices, helped equity values on the last trading day of the week. The value of shares traded during the day touched a six-week high of Rs8.94 billion.

Moreover, the fertiliser sector remained in the limelight amid institutional buying in Engro and Fauji Fertiliser Company.

Trade volume dropped to 158.78 million shares, compared with Thursday’s tally of 162.44 million shares.

Shares of 655 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 207 stocks closed higher, 74 declined and 374 remained unchanged. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 27.34 million shares, losing Rs0.03 to finish at Rs15.98. It was followed by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 15.96 million shares, gaining Rs1.45 to close at Rs42.69 and Bank Alfalah with 14.05 million shares, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs10.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.