KARACHI -  While the rest of the world celebrated April 20 for other reasons, investors at PSX cheered the long-awaited verdict. Soon after the announcement, KSE-100 index surged to an intraday high of 49,509 points (up 1905 points or (3.85%). In point terms, up 1905 points is the largest ever single day upside move. Once the initial euphoria settled, some participants opted to book profits, resulting in the market receding from its highs to close at 48,744 points by gaining 1,140 points or (up 2.4%), said Adnan Sami Sheikh at Topline Securities.

Key points of the verdict are insufficient evidence against the prime minister. The Supreme Court ordered further investigation and formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) consisting of FIA, NAB, MI/ISI and SECP officials. The JIT has been given a timeframe of 60 days to complete its investigation.

The market participation witnessed a huge activity with volume surging 54% d/d to 408 million shares, while traded value exploded 68% to Rs25.7 billion/$245 million. HBL reported EPS of Rs6.1 (flat YoY and inline with expectations). ASTL reported EPS of Rs1.1 (-9% YoY), and the result was above market expectations.

Amreli Steel (ASTL) announced further expansion plans in addition to the expansion currently under way. The current expansion envisions taking re-bar rolling capacity from 180,000 tonnes to 480,000 tonnes. In today’s notice, ASTL is aiming for 750,000 tonnes of re-bar capacity by FY19.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that stocks surged sharply after the Panamagate case ruling, with the Supreme Court ordering formation of a commission to investigate the prime minister. Concerns over surging current account deficit data for Jul-Mar17 at $6.13 billion and pre-budget uncertainty invited intraday pressure. Easing political noise after the Panama case decision played a catalyst role in record surge, the analyst added.

Analysts at JS Global stated that hefty buying in the market during the course of the trading hours could be attributed to the verdict of the Supreme Court on a long-awaited high profile political case.

HBL (3.33%) and MEBL (5.00%) in the banking sector gained, as both banking companies declared their 1Q2017 results. In its financial results, HBL posted flat YoY earnings of Rs6.16/share for the quarter along with a Rs3.5/share cash dividend. On the other hand, MEBL posted 17% YoY higher earnings of Rs1.72/share.

ASTL gained to close on its upper circuit as the steel company announced its expansion plan along with its 9MFY17 earnings announcement (EPS Rs2.76/share). Expansion plan announced by the company included increase in steel melting capacity at Dhabeji for making billets from 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes per annum, increase in rolling mill capacity for rebars at Dhabeji from 300,000 to 425,000 tonnes per annum and increase in rolling mill capacity for rebars at SITE from 180,000 to 325,000 tonnes per annum. SHEL (+3.08%) in the OMC sector garnered investor interest as the company posted robust growth in its bottom line to declare earnings of Rs13.05/share.

Analysts at AKD Research said the market had reacted positively (KSE100 up 3.85% intraday to close with a gain of 2.57%) as the delay in the Panamagate verdict had clearly been an overhang on market sentiments (momentum which picked up in the closing months of 2016 petered out with the KSE100 marginally down 0.4%CY17TD).