KARACHI: Extending its rally into the second day, the stock market saw the KSE-100 index cross the barrier of 49,000 points on Friday with a gain of 324.6 points, or 0.67 per cent, to close at an all-time high of 49,038.23 points.

Volumes rose to 431 million shares from 329m shares traded a day ago while the value grew to Rs20.7 billion from Rs18bn.

The start of the session was weak as the index dipped 63 points in the red partially due to the Friday factor. But it managed to gain traction mainly in the second half with the investors’ interest centred on the textile sector.

According to a trader, word was doing the rounds that the government was about to announce the textile package. Shares in the textile sector sold like hotcakes. Nishat Mills, Gul Ahmed Textile Mills and Nishat Chunian closed at their upper limits. In the heat of the moment, investors shed their concerns over the outcome of proceedings at the Supreme Court.

Gains to the upside were underpinned by rallies in steel, glass and pharmaceutical sectors. Index heavyweights oil and gas and banking sectors contributed slightly to the upside. The fertiliser sector continued to garner the investors’ interest as it added 1.7pc value to its previous day’s close, supporting the index by 64.71 points. Fauji Fertiliser was up 2.4pc and Fatima Fertiliser rose 4.93pc.

The cement sector rema­ined under pressure despite the release of the latest despatch numbers, which indicated a year-on-year incr­ea­se of 3.33pc for December.

Contribution to the upside also came from Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 4.79pc and Engro Corp 1.08pc. In addition, Adamjee Insurance 3.78pc, ICI 5pc, PSO 0.93pc, Kohinoor Tex­tile 2.46pc, Pakistan Oilfi­elds 0.99pc and Habib Metro 3.09pc also contributed towards keeping the index buoyant. Stocks that lost their values included Pakistan Tobacco 4.99pc, Lucky Cement 0.43pc, DG Khan Cement 0.63pc, Honda Car 1.49pc and PPL 0.22.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2017