KARACHI: Shares continued to head north on Thursday with the KSE-100 index recording gains of 219 points (0.54 per cent) and settle at 41,081.94, after crossing the 41,000 barrier.

The index reached intraday high by 414 points when it succumbed to profit-taking. While the foreign investors resumed selling, mutual funds continued to build fresh portfolio.

Among sectors, commercial banks, cement and automobiles were major movers. Refinery faced selling pressure on reports of possibility of temporary closure of the Pakistan Refinery Ltd which suffered damage due to torrential rains in Karachi.

Exploration and production companies also declined.

The volume increased 7pc to 544.7 million shares from 508.1m to while the traded value declined by 7pc to reach $119.1m as against $128.5m the previous day. Stocks that contributed significantly included Bank of Punjab, TRG, K-Electric, Azgard Nine and Maple Leaf Cement, which formed 25pc of total turnover.

In cement, Cherat, Pioneer, Kohat, Fauji Cement and DG Khan were key gainers. Investors’ interest was witnessed in the textile sector, where Gul Ahmed Textile, Interloop, Kohinoor and Nishat Chunian closed in the green zone. Sell-off was witnessed in steel, where International Industries, Mughal, Amreli and International ended in red.

Sectors contributing to the performance included technology, higher by 50 points, cement 35 points, power 34 points, textile 31 points and chemical 25 points.

Among scrips, TRG, Hub Power, Colgate Palmolive, Habib Bank and Thal Ltd were the major gainers cumulatively adding 122 points to the Index.

Shares that pulled back the benchmark down were MCB, Bank of Punjab, Pakistan Oilfields and Bank Alfalah and Sui Northern Gas.

“On the rollover week front, future open interest position of September contract stood at Rs7.89 billion, increasing by Rs2.08bn on daily basis while August contract position declined by Rs1.1bn to Rs8.54bn,” said head of sales at Topline Securities.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2020