KARACHI: The KSE-100 index continued to climb on Friday, gaining another 226 points (0.49 per cent) to close at the record high of 46,585 points.

Hub Power, Pakistan Petroleum and United Bank led the rise by contributing 124 points to the index gains. Perhaps due to the Friday factor, the market witnessed choppy trades, mainly in the second session, with the index trending within a narrow band of 165 points.

Overall, volumes increased 1.7pc over the preceding day to 346 million shares while the value grew 1pc to Rs19.5 billion.

Hub Power gained 4.3pc after it announced that the Private Power Infrastr­ucture Board had called a meeting to discuss the extension in the financial close and the signing of the implementation agreement for 2x660-megawatt impor­ted coal-based power plant.

Pak Suzuki was up 2.1pc after its managing director said the company was ready to invest $460m to set up a second plant.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp stated that the bullish sentiment was spar­ked by the strong earnings outlook in the oil, banking and pharmaceutical sectors.

E&P companies staged another upbeat session with OGDC going up 0.29pc, POL 0.46pc, PPL 1.66pc and Mari 0.31pc. Investors also started taking fresh positions in other energy stocks. Attock Refinery gained 4.03pc, PSO 0.58pc, Hascol 0.60pc and Byco 0.47pc.

According to analysts at Intermarket Securities, gains to the upside were underpinned by a robust performance from power companies, pharmaceuticals and multi-utilities while gains in a few auto and steel companies also supported the index.

Pharmaceuticals continued to rally amid rising inflation with SEARL rising 2.24pc, GLAXO 1.3pc, ABOT 1.90pc and HINOON 2.8pc.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2016