Karachi: Stocks continued the winning streak for the fifth successive session on Friday with the KSE-100 adding 56.59 points to close at 34,651.29.
Volume increased by 13 per cent to 431 million shares and value slightly declined by 3pc to Rs15.5 billion over the previous day.
Following the gains all through the week, investors seemed a bit nervous as the index slipped into the red before emerging due to strong buying by institutions.
The news that Moody’s had upgraded credit rating of Pakistan to ‘B3’ form ‘Caa 1’, kept investors’ interest alive in the local bourse.
Analyst at a major brokerage house stated that cement stocks posted slight recovery.
Banks, on the back of low NIMs and an unfriendly budget, continued to remain under pressure as ABL, BAFL, BAHL and UBL ended lower by 0.14pc, 0.76pc, 0.79pc and 0.85pc, respectively.
Oil and gas sector remained under pressure with PSO, OGDC and PPL ending lower by 0.91pc, 0.53pc and 0.22pc, respectively.
Auto sector was bullish with MTL and AGTL ending higher by 4.93pc and 5pc.
With Ramazan nearing, the food scrips witnessed strong investor interest in general with NATF closing at its upper-circuit.
Over the week, the KSE-100 index gained 638 points (1.88pc), which dealers at KASB Securities attributed to strong positive momentum of the earlier week pushing the index forward. Foreign investment clocked in at $13.8m, 41pc lower than $23.5m week-on-week.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Arif Habib Corp, Jahangir Siddiqui and Co, National Foods and TRG Pakistan were the major gainers during the week, while MCB Bank Ltd, Habib Metro Bank, Shifa International Hospitals Ltd, Bata Pakistan and Bank Al-Habib Ltd were the major losers.