Thursday saw the bulls dominating Karachi stocks market with the benchmark, KSE 100-share index, gaining 90.40 points. “(The) stocks closed bullish led by oil, cements and financial services on strong valuations,” said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Investments. The day saw the index closing up by 0.68 percent at 13,451.07 points against 13,360.67 points of Wednesday. Mehanti said volatility was witnessed in KSE 100 index on rising political noise and institutional profit-taking. The trading volumes at the ready-counter were recorded lower at 336.91 million shares against 347.20 million shares of the previous day. The trading value too lower to Rs 5.712 billion compared to Rs 5.830 billion of the previous session. The intraday high and low, respectively, stood at 13,458.24 and 13,278.44 points. The analyst Mehanti said trading volumes at the Exchange remained higher on renewed foreign interest, easing circular debt concerns in power sector after US offer for help to overcome energy crises in the country. The market capitalization modestly grew to Rs 3.488 trillion from Rs 3.467 trillion a day earlier. Of the total 386 traded scrips, 195 gained, 134 lost and 57 finished as unchanged. The analyst said accumulation continued in stocks lead by second and third tier scrips ahead of reformed CGT regime implementation from April 1, higher global commodities and stocks played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments post major earning announcements at KSE. The free-float KSE-30 index also gained 12.39 points to close at 11,939.49 points against the previous 11,927.10 points or 0.10 percent. While the KMI 30-index gained 53.19 points or 0.23 per cent to finish the day at 23,062.60. Bank of Punjab was the day’s volume leader counting its traded shares at 26.227 million with the opening and closing rates, respectively, standing at Rs 9.09 and Rs 9.55. On the future market, the turnover increased by over 2 million shares to 14.406 million against 12.663 million shares of Wednesday.
