RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Stocks ended the week on a positive note. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed 153 points higher at 36,694 points under the lead of oil scrips.

In the intraday trade, the index showed volatility by hitting the session high and low of 36,776 and 36,531 points. Trading turnover slid to 199 million shares worth Rs 9.43 billion compared to the previous Rs 9.68 billion. Of the 381 scrips traded, 191 appreciated, 163 depreciated and 27 ended unchanged.

The market capital accumulated to Rs 7.46 trillion as the foreign portfolio investment landed in the red zone marking a net selling of $ 1.91 million.

“Positivity prevailed in the market as the index rallied around 153 points,” viewed Arhum Ghous of JS Research.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp the day’s rally was led by oil scrips on higher global crude prices and reports on upbeat GDP growth target of 5.7 percent set by the government for fiscal year 2016-17.

“Pressure remained in selected scrips on pre-budget uncertainty and falling banking spreads,” he said adding that reports of over Rs 1.6 trillion record PSDP allocations in the federal budget and likely MSCI upgrade played a catalyst role in bullish close.

K-Electric led volumes with 18 million trading turnover. The power utility ended lower at Rs 7.77 at close. Other best performing stocks were Byco Petroleum, TRG Pakistan, TPL Trakker, SNGPL, Dewan Cement, Japan Power, Bank of Punjab, PIBT and JSCL.

Slight recovery was seen in banking issues with MCB, HBL and UBL adding 0.67, 0.34 and 0.95 percent.

Over 103 million future contracts were traded compared to the previous 73 million.

“Moving forward we remain bullish on the market,” opined analyst Arhum.