KARACHI: Stocks recovered some of the earlier sessions’ losses on Thursday with the KSE-100 index closing higher by 160.31 points, or 0.52pc, to 30,827.45.

Several positive developments helped to turn the tide, including the unity of the political parties in the wake of Peshawar carnage and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf calling an end to its prolonged protest in Islamabad.

The recovery in global markets following some stability in crude also helped the local bourse.

Foreign investors, nonetheless, remained net sellers of $3.41 million worth stocks, taking month-to-date net portfolio outflow to $56.16m.

Intra-day profit-taking was also witnessed as the index pulled back after going as high as 485 points. The PPL rallied by 2.1pc following reports of discovery of hydrocarbons in exploratory well in Gambat South Block, where the company has a 65pc working interest.

The market also drew strength from the reports of IMF’s executive board successfully completing the fourth and the fifth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility for Pakistan, which had paved way for immediate release of $1.05 billion.

Volume was 195m shares yesterday, about the same as 199m shares traded on Wednesday, with mid-tier stocks taking a place among volume leaders.

The cement sector grabbed the spotlight with trading in 42m shares followed by banking (26m shares) and electricity (22.7m shares).

Analysts at Sunrise Capital observed that the cement, and oil and gas sectors witnessed buying on Thursday. In cements, DGKC, FCCL, LPCL, MLCF and PIOC surged by 4.01pc, 0.67pc, 1.11pc, 1.87pc and 0.51pc.

Profit-taking was witnessed in KEL, which declined by 0.46pc. In the banking sector, BOP, KASBB, SMBL and UBL dropped by 1.67pc, 10.74pc, 0.97pc and 0.81pc, respectively.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014