KARACHI, April 4: Stocks on Friday maintained their upward drive amid a loud whispering about the presence of foreign buying on selected counters, notably oil and banks, followed by sympathetic local support as no one was inclined to miss the bandwagon.

An idea of buying euphoria that, too, at the weekend session, which generally attracts profit-selling, may well be had from the fact that the traded volume soared to current year’s peak level of well over 400m shares and the KSE 100-share index early hit its career best level at 15,518 before reacting to weekend selling.

The notable feature of the weekend session was that the KSE 100-share index now is not creeping but galloping to its next target of 16,000 points and beyond that as the balance of political power is steadily tilting in favour of the ruling elite. The news from the economic front were, however, not that encouraging.

After edging to its higher level so far of 15,517.87, it finally ended the week at 15,472.45, up 127.13 points as compared to 15,345.32 a day earlier as leading base shares tended further higher.

Although difference of opinion is still there on some core issues, investors seemed to have decided to resume normal trading activity as objective outlook of the unfolding political scenario is mostly positive. The credence to this perception was given by the advent of foreign buying, analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali thinks.

“It was a judicious blend of both local institutional and foreign buying on the banking, oil and cement sectors, where most of the leading shares, having a good dividend record and higher earnings, are still in the firing range,” said stock analyst Faisal A. Rajabali.

He said the important factor was that the market steadily absorbed a spate of selling for replacing buying on those counters where the potential of capital gains is much higher.

Leading gainers were led by HS & Co and AKD Capital, up by Rs36.25 and Rs30, followed by IGI Insurance, Lakson Tobacco, HinoPak, Service Industries, Pakistan Refinery and Pakistan Resource Co, which posted gains ranging from Rs7.40 to Rs21.65.

Losses on the other hand were mostly fractional barring Siemens Pakistan, off by Rs41 followed by ICI Pakistan, Clariant Pakistan, Arif Habib Ltd, Shell Gas, Exide Pakistan, EFU Life and National Foods, which were marked down by Rs4 to Rs9.95.

Traded volume soared to 410m shares from the previous 353m shares as gainers held strong lead over the losers at 194 to 114, with 34 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC topped the list of actives on strong foreign buying, up by Rs1.55 at Rs137.25 on 39m shares followed by Arif Habib Securities, higher by Rs4.90 at Rs188 on 31m shares, Bank Alfalah, firm by Rs1.65 at Rs56.45 also on 31m shares, Lucky Cement, lower by Rs1.05 at Rs144.05 on 28m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs1.15 at Rs115 on 24m shares, Nishat Mills, higher by Rs5.85 at Rs123.35 on 21m shares and PTCL, up by Rs1.25 at Rs48.05 on 16m shares.

National Bank followed them, firm by 95 paisa at Rs237.95 on 11m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by 75 paisa at Rs68.90 on 13m shares and Dewan Cement, steady 25 paisa at Rs16.70 on 11m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Bank Alfalah led the list of actives on this counter, higher by Rs1.80 at Rs8m shares followed by Lucky Cement, lower 80 paisa at Rs145 also on 8m shares, OGDC, up by Rs1.70 at Rs136.40 also on 8m shares.