KARACHI, March 12: The bulls staged a strong comeback on Tuesday with across the board gains at the Karachi Stock market.

As investors were able to shake off fears of imminent US sanctions on the launching of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, investors stooped to pick up shares that were knocked down by the heavy plunge on Monday.

The KSE-100 index recovered by a massive 350.29 points or 2 per cent on Tuesday to close at 17,872.65 points, narrowing the gap over Monday’s enormous loss of 440 points to just about 100 points.

With the results season over and no significant economic events, the activity at the stock market remained mostly news driven.

In spite of a grand recovery on Tuesday, the turnover was conspicuous by a decline of 10 per cent to 211 million shares, over 235 million shares traded the day earlier.

In terms of trading value, the amount also dipped by 17 per cent to Rs6.8 billion, from Rs8.2 billion on Monday.

Manager Equity Sales, Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities observed that the market recovered sharply after no sanction related statement from the US.

Investors took a sigh of relief and covered their position after realising that Iran-Pakistan pipeline may not pose major risk. Engro and NML closed at upper limit due to institutional buying.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation commented that stocks showed strong recovery on below expected global reaction on controversial Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project.

Bullish activity continued in stocks across the board after reports on delay of CCP hearing of PTCL; easing gas  shortage issues for fertiliser companies and strong corporate earning outlook.

Foreigners were on the ‘buy’ side on Tuesday with net portfolio inflow at $1.58 million, against outflow of $0.88 million the previous day, raising the total net buying for the month to $11 million. Among local participants, individuals were the biggest sellers on Tuesday at $2.77 million, which traders said comprised mainly retail investors and punters, who stayed on the sidelines, fearing a further tumble near the end of the session, which, however, was not to be.

Market capitalisation declined by Rs67 billion to Rs4.436 trillion on Tuesday, from Rs.4.369 trillion the earlier day.

Among the 348 stocks that came up for trading, gainers at 236, outnumbered losers, by ratio of 3:1, with the losses recorded in 84 shares and 28 scrips stayed unchanged.

On the 10 top volume leaders’ list, PIA posted the highest turnover of 24m shares, up by 34 paisa to Rs6.90.

It was followed by another telecom stock, Telecard, which gained 76 paisa to Rs 6.16 on 17m shares.

Engro Corporation, which had touched its ‘lower lock’ the earlier day, regained Rs6.12 to Rs128.65 on 14m shares.

Jah.Sidd.Co edged higher by 28 paisa to Rs14.22 on 13m shares; PTCL was up by 81 paisa to Rs21.08 on 13m shares; Maple Leaf Cement added 96 paisa to Rs17.09 on 10m shares; Fauji Cement was up by 25 paisa to Rs8.15 on 9m shares; Lafarge Pakistan rose by 46 paisa to Rs6.14 on 8m shares; NIB Bank inched up by 3 paisa to Rs2.23 on 8m shares and Nishat Mills, the Mansha group company, recovered almost all the earlier days loss, rising to Rs3.71 on Tuesday to Rs78.06 on 7m shares.