KARACHI: Stock market Friday witnessed bullish trend and crossed the psychological barrier of 37,000 points for the first time in its history. The benchmark 100-share index gained another 383.86 points (1.04%) to close at the highest-ever level of 37223 points.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 37360.88 points and lowest level of 36839.14 points, with the volume of over 254 million shares, having Rs 14.36 billion value. As many as 375 companies were active; of which 212 advanced, 138 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
Major gainers in the aforementioned sector were NML (3.13%), NCL (2.24%) and GATM (4.19%). Investor interest was seen in the pharmaceutical sector on the back of news reports that federal government could potentially increase drug prices in the annual budget by 8% to 13%. Major gainers in aforementioned sector were SEARL (1.27%) and IBLHL (0.59%).
KEL and FCCL led the volumes again and closed down by 1.3% and 1.9% respectively with 57m shares traded combined. Interest was seen in heavy weight stocks such as HUBC, UBL and LUCK which gained between 1.6% – 3.8%. Stocks contributed 125 points to the index. FFC gained 1.6% in fertilizer sector.