Overview
- On Friday, the index rose about 330 points to 172,290 in early trade after touching an intraday peak of 172,674, up from Thursday’s close of 171,960.
- Thursday’s session delivered a new all-time close near 171,961 as local funds stepped in following a decline in Pakistan Investment Bond yields.
- Improved external indicators included a $100 million current account surplus for November and stronger IT export receipts.
- Banks, fertiliser and cement led gains, with Engro Holdings, Fauji Fertiliser, UBL, Lucky Cement and Bank AL Habib contributing heavily.
- Deal activity featured Maple Leaf’s move to take control of Pioneer Cement, a Nishat Group agreement to buy a major stake in Rafhan Maize, and a TPL Corp share purchase agreement with Jazz, while foreigners were net sellers of about Rs1.6 billion on Thursday.