KARACHI -  Bullish sentiment continued at stock market on first trading day, Monday, with the benchmark KSE 100-index rallying by 631.48 points and closing at 51,373.51 points.

Major positive contribution came from the oil sector, on the back of rising oil prices on global expectations of output cuts.

Index point leaders were HBL (up 3%), UBL (3.9%), ENGRO (3.6%), OGDC (3.3%) & POL (4.2%), with positive contribution of 402 points, while SNGP (down 1.7%), HMB (2.1%), TRG (1.2%), ISL (0.8%) & JLICL (2%) withheld 36 points from the index. On the sector front, banks added 222 points, E&P’s 156 points and fertilizer 87 points, stated analyst Adnan Sami Sheikh at Topline brokerage.

Global markets were buoyed by Trump’s Saudi visit, with Asian equities gaining while EU/US futures also pointing in the same direction. Further, WTI has gained nearly a dollar since Friday as OPEC said all producers have agreed (in essence) to extend cuts, OPEC meets on Thursday, the analyst observed.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said stocks surged higher led by autos, oil and fertilizers scrips on investors bet over MSCI EM upgrade announcements and surging global equities on higher global crude prices. Pre-budget speculations in steel, cement sectors amid gains from CPEC projects, surging exports in textile sector, likely subsidies in fertilizer sector and renewed hopes for economic growth on OBOR initiatives played a catalyst role in record close.

Activity thinned, but was skewed to blue chips. Volume fell 30% d/d while value was flat at Rs12.6bn/$120m.

The volume leader for the day was again SILK with nearly 16.7 million shares traded in total.

Scrips of total 394 active companies traded in the session of which 239 closed in advance, 146 in decline while 9 remained unchanged.