KARACHI, Feb 11: Stocks ended on a record closing on Monday above the technical barrier of 17,500 points, led by foreign buying in the energy sector specifically the heaviest-weighted share on the index Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDCL), dealers said.

The KSE 100-share index ended 0.40 per cent, or 70.60 points, higher at 17,548.58 points. It made a fresh all-time high at 17,593.80 points and an intra day low at 17,477.94 points. Turnover rose to 278.25 million shares, compared with 269.37 million shares traded on Friday and trading value increased by over Rs1 billion to Rs6.54 billion from Rs5.42bn in the previous trading session. Market capitalisation stood at Rs4.4 trillion from Friday’s Rs4.38 trillion. “Rally in local stock market continued with key benchmark index crossing yet another physiological mark of 17,500. Index gain mainly led by heavy weight OGDC which gained over three rupees,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd. Blue chip OGDCL ended RS3.26 higher at Rs198.75 and Pakistan Oilfields gained Rs2.87 to close at Rs477.33. Foreigners remained net buyers as they bought shares worth a net $2.63 million on Monday, compared with a net buying of $757,957 on Friday, bringing the total net buying for the month at $4.54m. The total for January stood at net buying of $15.42m. Companies were the biggest sellers with equity worth $2.46 million. DG Khan Cement (DGKC) announced 1HFY13 EPS of Rs6.65, showcasing mammoth growth in earnings compared to EPS of Rs2.92 last year due to high local cement prices, however the result was below market expectations which caused the company’s share to decline by 52 paisa to Rs55.49. The State Bank’s decision to keep its key policy rate unchanged at 9.5 per cent for the subsequent two months proved to be a non event on the local bourse as it was according to market expectations. The biggest gainer was Rafhan Maize which ended Rs50 higher at Rs3,600, followed by Bhanero Textile which closed Rs12.85 higher at Rs269.85. UniLever Pakistan Ltd witnessed the biggest loss as it shed Rs105 to Rs10,400, followed by Colgate Palmolive, which ended Rs25 lower at Rs1,500. The KSE-30 index ended 0.52pc, or 74.29 points, higher at 14,325.44. Out of the 363 companies traded, the value of 178 increased, 157 decreased while 28 remained unchanged. The telecom sector once again dominated the 10 most active traded stocks although investors chose to book profits in those shares: Jahangir Siddiqui Co topped the list as it shed 26 paisa to Rs17.78 on turnover of 25.5 million shares, Maple Leaf rose 75 paisa to close at Rs18.05 on 24.49m shares and Pakistan Telecommunications Co Ltd fell 13 paisa to close at Rs19.87 on 17.27m shares. Pakistan International Airlines ended 7 paisa higher at Rs4.50 on 16.99m shares, WorldCall Telecom ended 24 paisa lower at Rs3.38 on 16.1m shares, gained 14 paisa to Rs7.97 on 11.72m shares and Nimir Ind Chemicals ended unchanged at Rs3.81 on 19.23m shares. TRG Pakistan Ltd fell 16 paisa to Rs8.26 on 10.05m shares, Telecard Ltd ended 4 paisa lower at Rs4.93 on 9.89m shares and Lotte PakPTA increased 20 paisa to close at Rs7. 85 on 7.69m shares.