karachi -


Market closed to an all-time high Thursday on the back of continuous rally in mid cap stocks and better March quarter results.
The local equity benchmark KSE 100-share index gained 105.95 points or 0.56 per cent to end the day at 18885.61 points compared to 18779.66 points of the day earlier.
KSE allshare-index added 105.85 points or 0.80 percent to finish the day at 13407.44 points, KSE 30-share index gained 56.16 points or 0.39 percent to close the day at 14573.37 points while KMI 30-share index increased by 178.08 points or 0.54 percent to conclude the session at 32893.77 points.
A dealer said cement sector remained in limelight after better than expected quarter announcements from MLCF, Fecto Cement, PIOC. HUB Power Company OGDC and NML also announced healthy results.
Market traded 213.576 million shares on Thursday compared to 219.875 million shares of the previous day. The traded value of shares in stock market reduced to Rs 6.374 billion from Rs 6.380 billion and the capitalization of the bourse settled at Rs 4.633 trillion after opening at Rs 4.596 trillion.
An equity specialist said trade remained higher amid global stocks uncertainty. Institutional interest was witnessed in selected blue chip stocks.
Record earnings announcement by Nishat Mills, higher local cement prices and speculations ahead of major earning announcements played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE despite dismal cement dispatch data.
On the second last day of trading week 380 companies participated in the trading where gainers held a strong hold over the losers by 255 to 105 while the values of 20 stocks remained intact. The upward trend was led by Nestle Pak XD, up by Rs 310 to Rs 6510, and Unilever Food XD. Colgate Palmolive and Siemens Pakistan were the biggest losers of the day, decreased by Rs 50 to Rs 1950 and Rs 7 to Rs 602.
Maple Leaf Cement was the top traded company of the day with 26.276 million shares as it closed at Rs 19.36 after opening at Rs 18.85. TRG Pakistan was on the second position with 25.904 million shares, added Rs 1 to Rs 10.30. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 13.877 million shares, grew by Re 0.07 to Rs 8.82, NIB Bank Limited with 10.850 million shares, higher by Re 0.11 to Rs 2.29 and JS Company XD with 10.168 million shares, up by Re 0.09 to Rs 12.43.