Stocks rally 362 points on better earnings

The share market continued its bull spell on Tuesday as the representative index of the stock market rose on better performance by energy and banking scrips. Arif Habib Corporation analyst Ahsan Mehanti said share prices closed on the higher side amid surging global crude oil prices and improving yields on treasury bills. Speculations ahead of major earnings announcements and institutional support in the results season played the role of a catalyst in the bullish close, he added. The brokerage house advised investors not to panic as the KSE-100 index is trading around the 47,000-point level, which is “susceptible to another dip”. JS Global advised investors to book gains on the upside and wait for dips for any fresh buying. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 46,417.34 points, up 362.53 points or 0.79 per cent from the preceding session. The overall trading volume increased 6.9pc to 319.8 million shares. The traded value went up 26pc to Rs10.2bn on a day-on-day basis. Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (41.9m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (26m shares), K-Electric Ltd (15.6m shares), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (13m shares) and Habib Bank Ltd (12.6m shares).