KARACHI: Stocks recovered more of the lost ground on Thursday with the KSE-100 index accumulating gains of 334.91 points (0.89 per cent) to close at 37,982.25.

The extended rally took the two-day gains to 1,319 points. Early in the day, investors were again spooked by the uncertainty on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement regarding a possible avoidance of an International Monetary Fund programme. But market was able to absorb the news as finance ministry had already announced plans for negotiations with the IMF and the possible release of first tranche by mid-November to replenish dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

The index traded in a range of intraday high and low by 542 and 209 points. Investors were also encouraged by some better-than-expected financial results announced by companies.

The volume rose 15pc to 223 million shares while the traded value improved 28pc to Rs7.69 billion. Major contribution to total market volume came from Lotte Chemical, TRG Pakistan and Engro Polymer and Chemcials, churning 49.6m shares out of the of 223m.

Best performing sectors included fertiliser and oil and gas marketing which together contributed 178 points to the index. Auto sector gained for the second consecutive day, adding 35 points to the index. Other sectors closing in the green were cement, increasing by 54 points, and chemical 26 points.

Scrip-wise, major gainers were Engro Corporation, up 3.25pc, Engro Fertiliser 4.57pc, Pakistan State Oil 2.95pc, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines 4.80pc and Pakistan Petroleum 0.79pc, adding 164 points. On the flip side, Habib Bank, down 1.37pc, Pakistan Oilfields 1.13pc and International Steels 4.18pc took away 57 points.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018