KARACHI: Record-breaking run of shares at the market saw the KSE-100 index add another 57.85 points to close at its new all-time high at 32,148.78 on Friday.

Foreign investors were net sellers of $1.23 million worth stocks.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that retail investors’ interest in second and third tier stocks; strong economic outlook; upbeat cement sales data and rising trend in DAP sales were major triggers.

Owais Ahsan at JS Global observed that the cement companies continued their run on the back of healthy sales number. The banking sector was also upbeat led by UBL higher by 0.8 per cent and NBP up by 1.8pc, as investors bought into gain from year-end dividend payouts as well as mark to market gains from Pakistan Investments Bonds.

The power sector also gained in the lead of Kapco up by 1.6pc as interest in high dividend yield plays remained strong in the wake of a declining interest rate scenario.

At the close of trading, investors got down to calculating the KSE-100 index gains during the week, which worked out at 961 points or 3.08pc in the five sessions.

The investor enthusiasm was manifest in the average daily turnover which jumped 68pc to 350m shares while average traded value rose 51pc to $166m over last week.

An efficacious upshot during the week was the lifting of suspension of trading on a major brokerage house by the SECP.
FIPI recorded net outflow of $1.8m during the week, compared to a higher outflow of $4.5m the previous week.

Other news flow impacting the broader market included reduction in prices of petroleum products and the government’s commitment to provide gas to textile sector in winter.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2014