KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a broad based rally on Thursday which saw the KSE-100 index climb 285.52 points (0.72 per cent) to close at 39,792.10.

Foreign investors booked profit with sales of $3.21 million worth stocks. Trading volume surged 106pc to 298m shares, from 140m shares while traded value was up 65pc to Rs12.7 billion from Rs7.7bn the previous day.

KEL again remained at top of the volume leaders list with 26m shares as investors remained excited over the takeover expectations.

The rally for the day was led by the cement and the banking sectors. Cement shares rose on the back of investors’ anticipation of a surge in despatch numbers for the month of August. DGKC rose 2.27pc and CHCC 3.76pc were top performers of the sector, while FCCL gained 1.35pc, PIOC 3.6pc and KOHC 1pc also closed higher.

The banking sector also saw bullish momentum as the government borrowed Rs215bn against the target of Rs100bn in auction of Pakistan Investment Bonds allaying some reinvestment concerns for banks with maturing portfolios. HBL added 1.23pc and UBL 1.32pc.

Other stocks which showed strong performance included Hubco up 0.23pc, FFC 0.96pc, NML 2.28pc and Engro 0.4pc. Both Sui Northern Gas Pipeline and Sui Southern Gas Ltd closed at their upper limit of 5pc, which was attributed to the gas utilities’ Rs118bn expenditure planned towards improving and up-gradation of transmission and distribution network.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp commented that the E&P sector remained under pressure on falling crude prices and uncertainty in global equities. China SOEs bid for Abraaj stake in K-Electric, MCB Bank expected deal to acquire NIB Bank and OGDC, PPL hydrocarbon discovery in Nashpa Field played a catalyst role in the bullish close.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016