KARACHI: Stock market continued its bullish streak on Monday when the KSE-100 index recorded a splendid gain of 718.86 points (1.63pc) to close at 44,897.69.

Investors ignored the advent of the roll-over week. Tone down of noise on the political front was an encouraging sign, but the worries over the external account remain with the country’s current account deficit up 59pc during the first half of this fiscal year. After aggressively buying in 17 sessions, the foreign fund managers took a pause on Monday with their net sell of stocks worth $15.7m exceeding the net purchases of $12.3m by $3.4m.

Local investors on fear of missing out on the rally absorbed all of the foreigners’ sales. Mutual funds, still sitting on files of cash, were the lead buyers of $5.5m worth stocks on Monday.

The volume increased 41pc over previous trading session to 294m shares, while the traded value rose by 23pc to Rs13.3bn.

According to JS Global, major contribution to the index came from Hub Power up 3.94pc, Lucky Cement 3.01pc, Engro Corp 1.86pc, DG Khan Cement 5pc and PSO 3.53pc cumulatively adding 206 points.

A rally was seen in the cement sector as investors wager on delay in expansion in the North, giving a possible rise to cement prices.

Investors interest in cement stocks was also fanned by reports suggesting that All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association had urged the government to support the industry with application of anti-dumping duty on Iranian cement.

Steel sector continued to perform well with Mughal Steel hitting upper cap, Crescent Steel up 2.60pc and International Industries Ltd 1.80pc. In the E&P sector OGDC gained 1.45pc and Pakistan Oilfield edged higher by 0.26pc.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2018