KARACHI: Stocks exte­nded gains on Thursday, though trading remained listless as investors were disinclined to take fresh positions ahead of the four-day Eid holidays (Friday-Monday).

Although noise on the political front subsided a bit, investors witnessing persistent foreign selling and further devaluation of the rupee wondered over the continuity of the rally post the Eid holidays.

The KSE-100 index added 173.18 points (0.40 per cent) and settled at 43,680.68. It moved in the range of intraday high and low by 224 and 48 points.

Intermarket Securities observed that the index was 16pc above its 52-week low of 37,737 points on Dec 12, 2017 and 10pc below its 52-week high of 48,602 on June 14, 2017.

Immediate resistance was marked as previous week’s high of 44,332 points while next support hovered at 43,100. Going forward, market was expected to remain volatile and choppy with flows from local and foreign institutions directing the market.

Foreign investors bought stocks worth $1.2 million while mutual funds swooped to cherry-pick shares worth $2.1m.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti commented that the stocks closed higher led by selected scrips across the board amid surging global crude prices, strong data on auto sales.

The trade volume improved 5pc over the previous day to 118m shares while the value traded increased 14pc to Rs6.47 billion. Leaders were Bank of Punjab, Summit Ban, Bank Alfalah, TRG Pakistan and Fauji Fertiliser, representing 29pc of total turnover.

Sectors contributing to the day’s positive performance included exploration and production, higher by 66 points, pharma 20 points, chemical 20 points, auto 16 points and oil and gas marketing companies 12 points.

Scrips-wise top gainers were Bank Al Habib, up 4.63pc, Pakistan Petroleum 1.81pc, Engro Corporation 1.43pc, Oil and Gas Development Company 0.91pc and Pakistan Oilfields 1.17pc, adding 158 points.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2018