The bull-run that began at the very outset of trading, continued throughout the day, with fuel and energy sector appearing as key attraction for investors.
Stock analysts said that a huge institutional interest was observed in PPL, PSO and OGDC, which dominated the entire day's proceedings. The PPL opened at Rs 143.00 and after touching the level of Rs 147.40 ended at Rs 147.00. The PTCL was another major attractive scrip for investors, leading the market by volume, they added.
They said the successful bidding of the KESC has brought a wave of optimism among the investors, and now their hopes regarding privatisation of PSO and PTCL are growing up. About activity in PTCL, they pointed out it was due to foreign interest, which might further increase in the coming sessions. Hub Power, which has remained dull for long, also moved ahead which was a healthy development. The banking sector, however, depicted a mixed performance, they stated.
Dr Shahid Zia, head of research at Switch Securities Ltd, said the bullish sentiment continued to prevail on the back of support coming from institutional and foreign buyers, adding that he did not see any chance to stop bull-run in the near future. Apart from presence of big players and institutional buyers, general public interest is overwhelming, which has created the buying euphoria in the market, he pointed out.
The sentiment of the market is so bullish that the market even has ignored a lot of negative news, including those coming from Sui, Balochistan. Now the trend does not seem change until major negative news disturbs the sentiment, he observed.
Dr Shahid Zia said the reports of growth in foreign exchange reserves and privatisation of PSO and PTCL have brought a healthy impact on the market. Likewise, the reports of corporate earnings have further added to the market sentiment, he added.
"In view of such positive factor, I hope the market will continue treading the uphill course amid intra-day and intra-week corrections", he said.
Under the prevailing market scenario, the investors having stamina to hold their positions would be picking a lot of money, he forecast.
Out of a total of 104 scrips changing hands on the floor, 24 moved up, 22 stayed in negative column, while 58 were unchanged.
Among major gainers, PPL improved by Rs 4.00, OGDC Rs 3.60, PSO Rs 2.65, Dewan Farooq Motors Rs 1.70 and PTCL Rs 1.35.
In the negative zone, Crescent Sugar Mills shed Rs 1.65, MCB Re 1.00, Adamjee Insurance 75 paisa, Askari Commercial Bank 70 paisa, and Abamco Capital Fund 60 paisa.
PTCL was the volume leader with 25.319 million shares followed by OGDC with 25.066 million shares.