KARACHI: Stocks extended their grand rally into the third day on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index rallying by 965 points, or 1.98 per cent, to close at 49,709.

In the past three sessions, the benchmark index has notched as many as 2,835 points, representing a rise of 6pc.

The rally has been spearheaded by mutual funds, which picked up stocks worth $63 million in the last two days, i.e. Thursday and Friday.

The winning spree at the market was fuelled by the decision of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

Investors who had been waiting for months over the fate of the present government were relieved at the court’s verdict which allowed the prime minister to keep his job, though investigations would continue. “For the moment, investors have decided to take fresh positions in value scrips,” a stockbroker said.

On Friday, the market gained 600 points in the first half. But intense activity in the second half, despite the Friday factor, tossed the index to close at the day’s highest level.

The volumes of traded shares stood at 396m, down 20.4pc from a day ago. Small-cap stocks remained volume leaders with Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd, TRG Pakistan and Azgard Nine Ltd contributing 88.22m shares to the day’s total volume. Ninety stocks closed at their upper circuits while only 11 stocks ended at their lower limits. Traded value slightly fell to Rs24.1bn from Rs25.7bn a day ago.

Major contribution to the rally came from Habib Bank which rose 2.48pc, Engro Pakistan 4.43pc, Luck Cement 2.56pc, Hub Power Company 2.42pc and Pakistan Petroleum 2.89pc; these stocks added 317 points to the index, according to Intermarket Securities.

On the flip side, Nestle Pakistan lost 2.66pc, MCB Bank 1.10pc and Bank Al Habib 1.36pc, taking away 53 points from the index.

From the sector perspective, health care increased by 4.46pc, industrials by 3.94pc and telecommunication services by 3.84pc.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017