KARACHI: Stocks clim­bed higher on Thursday as the market maintained its northward journey. The KSE-100 index added 101.81 points (0.24 per cent) and settled at 42,305.84.

The benchmark made intra-day high and low of 237 and 84 points respectively. Traders said that investor participation was on the rise as no one wanted to miss out on the rally.

The market seemed to throw caution to the wind as investors discounted all negative news flow. The ongoing demonstrations by the opposition alliance against the government which is feared to escalate as a massive show of strength on the Dec 13 approaches. The 11-party opposition alliance which also threatens to hand over resignations from the assemblies did little to curb investors’ lust for equities. Further, the escalation of hostilities on the line of control with the warnings of a false flag operation by India also could not cause setback to investor sentiments.

The rapid rise in Covid-19 cases and the government’s caution of a major breakout in case of mass gatherings of protesters who would not heed the instructions on standard operating procedures did push many individuals to move out of the risk off environment. Banks were major sellers of equities worth $5.49 million which was absorbed mainly by broker proprietary buying of shares valued at $5.30m.

Major market participants said that investors had their gaze fixed on fundamentally sound scrips, but some veterans did show concern.

“Not­ice that three scrips in the technology sector were taking a flight to the sky”, said a marketman. He argued that those were heavily over-bought.

Cement sector remained range bound, as did oil & gas marketing companies and fertilisers. The exploration & production sector also remained in the red all through the day which was ascribed to a slip in international oil prices.

Traded volumes increa­sed 8pc over the previous day to 472m shares. Scrips that were major contributors to the index upsurge included Fauji Fertiliser Company 32 points, TRG Pakistan 21 points, Habib Bank Ltd 17 points, Bank Al Habib Ltd 15 points and Pakistan Int. Bulk Terminal Ltd 13 points.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2020