KARACHI: Stocks moved aggressively forward in the face of several pressing problems confronting the country and the economy.

On Monday, the KSE-100 opened on an upbeat note and it closed higher by 71.82 points or 0.24 per cent to 29,585.60. However, volumes dipped 41pc to 90m shares from 153m shares traded last Friday. The index recorded maximum gain of 215 points to intra-day high while it did not drop below the previous day’s closing.

Know more: KSE ends week on dim note

Several market players thought the market had priced in the effects of political turmoil. Moody’s unfavourable report on Pakistan released on Friday did little to spoil the market mood. The investors even ignored heavy rains and floods that had wreaked havoc in Punjab.

Second and third tier scrips formed major portion of the top 10 volume leaders, though OGDCL, POL and PPL received some support, while most cement stocks closed lower including the two giants, Lucky and D.G. Khan Cement.

The NCCPL figures showed net purchases of $1.47m by foreigners on Monday. Mutual Funds returned to profit-taking by sale of shares valued at $2.67m.

“The market inched upwards on Monday paring intra-day gains as negotiations between the government and the protesting political parties progressed at snail’s pace, noted Ovais Ahsan, analyst at JS Global.

He observed that rumours of an increase in drug prices pushed the pharmaceutical sector upwards as Abbott Lab rose 4.8pc, GlaxoSmith­Kline was up by 3.9pc and Ferozsons Laboratories rallied to its ‘upper circuit’.

Brokerage Sunrise capital stated that buying was observed in most of the scrip under the head of banking sector as FABL, UBL, AKBL and MCB Bank rose by 3.44pc, 1.24pc, 0.09pc and 0.12pc respectively.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2014