KARACHI (Reuters) - The Karachi stock market closed sharply higher on Monday, led by the fertiliser sector after a rise in domestic urea prices, dealers said. The KSE benchmark 100-share index ended 2.66 percent, or 307.21 points, higher at 11,868.88. Volume jumped to 101.13 million shares compared with 81.08 million shares traded on Friday. "A surprise increase in urea prices over the weekend triggered a major rally in fertiliser stocks, as investors believed that their earnings will increase substantially going forward," said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities. "In line with fertiliser stocks, oil and banking stocks also improved, thereby pushing the index higher." Stocks at Fauji Fertiliser bin Qasim rose 4.11 percent to 62.36 rupees, while Engro Corp jumped 5 percent to 118.23 rupees. Dealers said healthy corporate results over the past few days had also helped the index post gains. In the currency market, the rupee firmed to 86.48/53 to the dollar from 86.62/66 on Friday, amid soft dollar demand from importers. "There was not much of a demand for the dollar today, so we saw the rupee gaining value," said a dealer at a local bank. Dealers said healthy remittances from Pakistanis living abroad were also supporting the rupee, but cautioned a widening current account deficit means that the local currency could experience downward pressure in days ahead. Pakistan's current account deficit surged to a provisional $908 million in September, compared with a deficit of $201 million in the previous month. The deficit for the July-September quarter was a provisional $1.209 billion, compared with $597 million in the same period last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan. APP adds from Lahore: Lahore Stock Exchange gained 150.54 points on Monday, as the LSE 25-index closed at 3245.32 points. The market's overall situation however did not correspond to an upward trend as it remained at 2.086 million shares to close against the previous turnover of 2.282 million shares, showing a difference of 196,159 shares. Out of the total 90 active scrips 45 moved up, 39 remained equal while only 6 sheded values. Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, Pakistan Oil Fields Limited, and OGDCL were major gainers of the day by recording increase in their per share value. by Rs 9.21, Rs 8.69 and Rs 6.78 respectively. Netsol Technologies Limited, Nishat (Chunian) Limited and Mepal Leaf Cement Factory lost their per share value by Re 1, Re 0.22 and Re 0.10 respectively.