KARACHI: Stocks continued its northward journey on Wednesday as the KSE-100 index gained 353.29 points, or 0.76 per cent, to close at 46,934.

The index hit intraday high by 543 points which took it to 47,124 points, seen for the first time since April 2018.

The rally was powered by foreign buying of shares worth $2.62m, the bullishness in the global stock markets and rising trend in oil prices. The start of the vaccination drive and anticipation of healthy upcoming corporate results gave boost to investor sentiments.

The apparent thaw on the political front further put faith in the hearts of investors. Elsewhere, exports crossed $2bn-mark for fourth consecutive month mainly driven by double-digit growth in proceeds from textile and clothing sectors. Energy stocks supported the index as the government has signed agreements with IPPs to clear overdue payments.

Other positive news included allocation of Rs378bn by banks for the low-cost housing scheme and growth of 15.7pc year-on-year in cement dispatches in 7MFY21.

The investor interest remained mainly in the cement sector where Pioneer and Cherat hit the upper circuits. Activity was also seen in pharmaceutical sector where Searle and Sanofi-Aventis were major movers.

The rise in exports saw Gadoon Textile reach upper limit while Nishat Chunian and Nishat Mills also recorded gains.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, cement sector contributed 160 points, E&P 102 points, pharma 36 points, textile 35 points and banks 32 points to the rally. The major scrips that contributed to the index rise were Mari Petroleum (60 points), Lucky Cement (49 points), Cherat (30 points), POL (27 points), and Searle (26 points).

The traded volume increased 32pc over the previous day to 616.3m shares while its value also rose by 27pc to Rs29.5bn. KE, PRL, Hascol Petroleum, Al Shaheer Corp and First Capital Securities formed 28pc of the total volume.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2021