The KSE-100 index surged by 501.68 points or 1.22 percent to close at 41,614.39 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 254.108 million shares as compared to 228.920 million shares traded Friday. Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $0.7 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 84 billion to Rs 8.254 trillion. Out of total 374 active scrips, 251 closed in positive, 105 in negative while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 19.840 million shares. It gained Re 0.25 to close at Rs 13.83 followed by K-Electric that inched up by Re 0.21 to close at Rs 6.68 with 17.602 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Unilever Foods were the top gainers with Rs 390.00 and Rs 349.99, respectively to close at Rs 8,900.00 and Rs 7,349.99. Philip Morris Pak and Island Textile were the top losers with Rs 170.44 and Rs 85.00, respectively to close at Rs 3,238.36 and Rs 1,615.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 78.77 points or 0.88 percent to close at 8,995.90 points with total turnover of 33.268 million shares. BR Cement Index surged by 199.45 points or 4.67 percent to close at 4,466.48 points with 36.504 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index gained 60.88 points or 1.21 percent to close at 5,083.81 points with 11.885 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 5.11 points or 0.48 percent to close at 1,075.77 points with 13.115 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,482.29 points, up 129.08 points or 2.03 percent with 19.722 million shares.
Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index gained 502 points, closing at 41,614 levels, up 1.2 percent. Local bourse remained in the green due to the cement sector as majority of the cement stocks closed at their respective upper circuits on account of lower International Coal prices.
From the sector, DGKC (up 5.0 percent), FCCL (up 5.0 percent), MLCF (up 5.0 percent) and CHCC (up 5.0 percent) were some of the stocks that closed at their respective upper circuits. LUCK (up 4.7 percent), however, closed near its upper limit. Moreover, CPI for the month of January 2019 rose 7.19 percent on year-on-year basis as compared to an increase of 6.2 percent registered in December 2018. In the Financials, BAHL (up 2.2 percent), MEBL (up 4.6 percent) and UBL (up 0.6 percent) closed in the positive.