KARACHI: The stock market extended the gaining spree on Tuesday, adding 295 points, or 0.60 per cent, to the index which stormed past the 48,000-mark and hit another new four-year high at 48,191 points.

Stocks have continued to climb all through the month of May and now on the first day of June with aggregate addition of 3,929 points. Banks and mutual funds led the buying on Tuesday, while individuals, insurance companies and foreign in­­vestors decided to book profit.

Market opened in the positive and rose to hit the intraday high by 341 points. The investors’ enthusiasm for the equities was fuelled by improving economic indicators, a record revenue collection of Rs4,167bn in 11MFY21, lower than expected CPI of 10.87pc year-on-year in May and anticipation of an incentive laden upcoming fiscal budget to support the economy.

Moreover, the third wave of coronavirus gradually abating across the country with reported cases coming up at three week lows also instilled confidence in the minds of investors.

Further, the upsurge in oil prices fuelled higher activity in the E&P sector, where OGDC, POL and PPL climbed after a long period of hibernation. Profit-taking was observed in cement sector on the back of expected low dispatches in May amid Eid holidays and the lockdowns. Pioneer, Attock, Cherat and Maple Leaf closed below their previous day close. Oil & Gas Marke­ting Companies and the power sector remained bullishly inclined on the back of expected release of payments due from government on account of circular debt.

Sectors contributing to the bullish performance included E&P (83 points), fertiliser (57 points), power (25 points), pharma (23 points) and textile (17 points). The scrips that added most points to the index were Engro (41 points), PPL (38 points), Lucky Cement (21 points), Hubco (21 points), and OGDC (21 points).

The trading volume decreased 2pc to 1.39bn shares including volumes of 354m contributed by WorldCall. With just the mutual funds and companies mopping up shares offloaded in profit-taking by other major participants on Tuesday, caution was suggested as the bulls may have tired out after over a month of run-up.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021