KARACHI: The massive rally at the stock market that started on June 26 following the surprise State Bank policy rate cut by 100 basis points entered eighth consecutive trading day on Tuesday.

The bulls remained in charge for the entire session with the KSE-100 index recording gains of 170.58 points (0.48 per cent) and settling at 35,373.35. Over the last eight days, the market has amassed 1,434 points or 4.2pc.

Except for foreigners who carried on their selling of shares worth $3.09 million, all local participants sans banks continued to add to the index splurge. Buoyant international markets and declining trend line in active cases of Covid-19 in the country provided confidence to investors who resumed buying right from the opening bell, taking the benchmark up to intraday high by 269 points.

The rapid rise in stock prices was seen mainly in cement, exploration and production, oil marketing companies and selected banking stocks as all-around optimism induced value buyers to add more shares to their portfolio. With the financial results season for quarter ended June 30, around the corner, high yield scrips were in demand.

The volume posted a slight increase of 0.4pc to reach 333.9m shares while traded value increased 9pc to Rs12.2 billion. Leaders of the session were Pak Elektron, Hascol Petroleum and Lotte Chemical with almost 89m shares exchanging hands.

Cement sector remained under the spotlight as available figures indicated surge in despatches by 29.9pc in June over the same month last year. Cherat, Pioneer, Maple Leaf; Fauji, Kohat and DG Khan were the major movers.

In banking, Alfalah, National, Meezan Bank, United and Habib closed higher. The auto sector carried on with its recent upsurge with gains seen in Indus Motors; Honda Cars, Hinopak and Pak Suzuki. On the flip side, refinery and chemical stocks saw profit-booking after the bullish performance a day earlier.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2020