KARACHI: Stocks gathered momentum on Thursday, which saw KSE-100 index gain 125.89 points to close at 33,368.84.

Pragmatists in the market thought that a clear direction of the market was yet to be determined; the upsurge in index was due to the strength of most stocks on the heavyweight oil and gas sector.

PSO was up 3 per cent, while Hascol, POL and Shell also commanded investors’ interest as the stocks had shed values during the recent rundown in the market. The chemical sector witnessed bullish activity with FATIMA, FFBL, FFC and ENGRO up by 4.63pc, 3.24pc, 1.81pc and 1pc, respectively. SNGP and SSGC gained over 4pc. FEROZ settled lower by 3.5pc following the company’s announcement of a price cut in Hepatitis C drug ‘Sovaldi’.

“Stable crude prices over $50 per barrel enticed investors’ interest in oil stocks which helped the index to extend bullish recovery. Mixed trend was observed in cement sector as some of the stocks witnessed profit-taking while buying interest was seen in corrected stocks,” a senior analyst said.

Trading volume and value declined on Thursday over the earlier day. Foreign investors were net sellers of $2.88 million worth stocks, taking the month-to-date sale at $3.87m and year-to-date outflow at $62.73m.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp observed that the stocks closed bullish amid recovery in selected scrips across the board on strong earnings outlook.

Stability in international oil prices, speculations ahead of the SBP key policy rate announcement this month and reports of record growth in cement and fertiliser sales in January 2015 played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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