KARACHI, Nov 8: Foreign buying in oil and banking stocks led the country’s main stock index to close at a fresh record closing and a new peak on Thursday but institutional selling was witnessed at higher levels as institutions booked profits ahead of the long weekend, dealers said.

The KSE 100-share index ended 0.16 per cent, or 25.26 points higher at 16,243.27 points. It made an all-time high at 16,278.00 points.

Turnover marginally decreased to 152.94 shares, compared with 158.55 million shares traded on Wednesday. Trading value also fell to Rs5.88 billion from Rs6.45 billion the previous trading session.

But market capitalisation rose to Rs4.049 trillion, higher than Wednesday’s capitalisation of Rs4.047 trillion.

“Market continued its upward trend with profit taking coming in at higher levels, but witnessed some foreign buying which helped it close on a positive note,” said Ahfaz Mustafa, director at Ismail Iqbal Securities Ltd.

Foreigners were extremely active in the market on Thursday as they bought shares worth a net $15.68 million, after buying shares worth a net $2.74 million on Wednesday, bringing the total for this month to $22.8 million.

Sources said there was also foreign buying in Pakistan International Container Terminal.

But companies were the major sellers with equity worth $14.8 million.

“Market remained ranged bound ahead of long weekend. Engro Foods which has been increasing for last few sessions saw some profit-taking with healthy volumes. KESC rose by 23 paisa after announcing its Rs40bn plan in enhancing power generation capacity,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.

For the week, KSE-100 index continued with its upward momentum and closed up by 0.88 per cent week-on-week. Average daily volumes were down by 3.01 per cent week-on-week to 145.86 million shares.

According to AKD Securities, key news flows driving market sentiment included ECC approving 75mmcfd of gas supply to the fertiliser plants on the SNGP grid during this winter season; Lahore High Court extending the hearing on ICH (International Clearing House) to Nov 14 2012; delay in EU Autonomous Trade Preferences (ATP) package; and media hype over the confrontation between the army and the judiciary.

The market capitalisation based KSE 30-index rose slightly by 0.04 per cent, or 5.36 points, to close at 13,331.46 points.

Out of the 335 companies traded, the value of 169 increased, 151 decreased, while 15 remained unchanged.

The biggest gainers and losers were as follows: On the plus side, Island Textile was up by Rs23.26 to Rs488.51, followed by Exide Pakistan which was up by Rs12 to Rs330. On the declining side, UniLever Pakistan lost Rs273.99 to Rs9,501 and UniLever Food which decreased by Rs175 to Rs3,600.

The list of volume leaders included mainly middle tier shares: Engro Foods fell Rs1.03 to Rs79.13 on 14.86 million shares, KESC rose 20 paisa to Rs5.85 on 12.06 million shares and Jahangir Siddiqui gained Re1 to Rs15.14 on 11.43 million shares.

Azgard Nine gained 66 paisa to Rs7.05 on 9.18 million shares. DG Khan Cement fell 3 paisa to Rs52.65 on 8.51 million shares, and Fauji Cement shed 6 paisa to Rs6.53 on 7.86 million shares.

JS Bank ended 37 paisa higher at Rs5.91 on 5.15 million shares, Bank Alfalah rose 24 paisa to Rs16.14 on 4.74 million shares and Byco Petroleum gained 10 paisa to Rs8.58 on turnover of 4.72 million shares.

Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim ended 18 paisa lower at Rs39.65 on 4.25 million shares.