Karachi - Stocks on Thursday showed recovery led by selected scrips across the board on strong valuations, KSE-100 Index gains 21.88 points to close at 34,408.74 points.
Market remained ranged bound with declining volumes. Rally was seen in Engro shares in expectation of turnaround in 2015 profitability.  Trade remained thin amid shutdown strike call by MQM. Pressure in oil stocks after international oil prices fell to six year lows near $44/barrel led the index to trade in narrow range.
Positive impact of lower interest rates on high leveraged Engro, falling fuel costs and coal prices on cement sector played a catalyst role in positive sentiments at KSE, a market watcher said. Bourse witnessed a volatile session with lackluster volumes due to the political unrest. Engro up 4.2pc continued its rally as investors anticipate healthy financial result. PPL plunged by 0.3pc following its half year financial result posting EPS of Rs11.23 versus analyst expectation of EPS Rs12.1. PAEL gaining 3.4pc remained in the limelight as the company is benefiting from being highly leveraged due to the cut in interest rate. In chemical sector, ARPL continued its southwards journey as the company posted disappointing quarterly result (EPS of Rs5.19), observed analyst Arhum Ghous.
Volumes decreased by 12pc to 207m shares, value also declined by 4pc of $147m (value Rs14.7b). Of total 376 active companies in the session, 182 concluded up, 162 down while 32 remained unchanged. Pak Elektron was the volume leader in market with 14.05m shares and price per share Rs50.71, followed by Lafarage Pak with 13.28m shares and price per share Rs17.85, Cherate Cement with 12.91m shares and price per share Rs81.51, Adamjee Ins with 11.56m shares and price per share Rs55.02 and Engro Corp with 9.84m shares and price per share Rs297.88 were in limelight in market.
Colgate Palmolive with per share price Rs1960.00 (58.00) and Muree Brewery with per share price Rs1060.50 (50.50) were among top gainers in market.
While Rafhan Maize with per share price Rs11300.00 (-560.00) and Nestle Pak with per share price Rs10470.00 (-449.00) were among top loser in market.