BRIndex30 increased by 279.2 points or 1.57 percent to close at 18,105.72 points with total turnover of 206.817 million shares. KSE-100 index surged by 388.91 points or 1.20 percent and closed at 32,752.26 points. Trading activities improved significantly as daily volumes increased to 324.260 million shares, highest in the current calendar year, as compared to 181.357 million shares traded on Wednesday.
Total market capitalization increased by Rs 69 billion to Rs 6.505 trillion. Out of total 384 active scrips, 311 closed in positive and only 63 in negative while the value of 10 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 35.771 million shares and gained Re 0.34 to close at Rs 4.09 followed by Unity Foods that inched up by Re 0.72 to close at Rs 10.22 with 22.745 million shares. Bata Pak and Mari Petroleum were the top gainers increasing by Rs 65.36 and Rs 17.56 respectively to close at Rs 1372.61 and Rs 923.79 while Nestle Pakistan and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers declining by Rs 63.50 and Rs 42.50 respectively to close at Rs 5520.00 and Rs 1900.01.
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 43.59 points or 0.9 percent to close at 4,892.26 points with total turnover of 3.652 million shares.
BR Cement Index surged by 98.23 points or 3.49 percent to close at 2,911.75 points with 39.125 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 79.47 points or 1.04 percent to close at 7,716.44 points with 28.011 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 4,540.73 points, up 80.12 points or 1.8 percent with 37.764 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 25.64 points or 0.7 percent to close at 3,710.04 points with 17.251 million shares.
BR Tech & Comm Index gained 12.97 points or 1.89 percent to close at 697.60 points with 23.706 million shares.
Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that the local bourse continued its positive momentum on the back of ease on the political front. Investors' interest was seen in the 2nd and 3rd tier stocks.
Cement sector was the major gainer at the bourse where MLCF (up 6.1 percent), DGKC (up 5.0 percent), CHCC (up 5.0 percent) and BWCL (up 4.8 percent) closed on their respective upper circuits. PIOC (up 4.1 percent) announced its FY19 results where the company reported an EPS of Rs 3.48 against Rs 7.24/share in the same period a year back with no cash payout.
Investors' interest was seen in the Fertilizers as well where ENGRO (up 1.3 percent) and FFC (up 1.4 percent) were the major gainers. Mixed sentiments were seen in the Financials where HBL (up 1.6 percent) and MCB (up 0.9 percent) closed in the green zone but UBL witnessed some pressure. Oil & Gas heavyweight regained after steady international oil prices over the progress in resolving the US-China trade war as PPL (up 0.4 percent) and OGDC (up 0.6 percent) closed in the green.