KARACHI: Stocks sur­g­ed on the first day after Eid holidays with the KSE-100 index closing with a gain of 572 points (1.39 per cent) at 41,779. Investors took a deep breath of relief after what looked like the market’s recovery in September from dismal performance in August, marked as the worst monthly performance in seven years.

The start of trading was startling as the index sank by 140 points in just the first five minutes. But enticing valuations prompted investors to take fresh positions, tossing the index by intra-day high of 627 plus points.

Figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan in the evening revealed that the rally was led by foreigners who made heavy buying of $6.34 million worth of stocks while mutual funds continued sell-off worth $5.58m.

The volume stood at 108m shares though 53pc higher than last trading day, it fell far lower than the year-to-date average of 282m shares. The trading value also moved higher to Rs6.54 billion from Rs5.43bn.

TRG, ASL and SSGC contributed 24m shares to the total turnover.

HBL sank 5pc, the fifth lower lock in a row, while heavyweight OGDC rose 4.7pc contributing to the index rise.

Other index movers were UBL, which went up 2.7pc, SNGP 4.8pc, BAHL 4.8pc and DAWH 3.5pc, while HBL fell 5pc, DCR 5.6pc, PIOC 2.3pc, COLG 1.7pc and HMB 1.2 taking away 150 points.

Exploration & production sector gained as oil prices jumped by $1.

Dealers and analysts argued over the market trend going forward. “Since mutual funds continue to sell, the one-off buying by foreign investors can scarcely be construed as the return of the bull” said an analyst.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2017