KARACHI: The Karachi share market’s main index went up on Monday as institutions and foreign funds took interest in oil and gas scrips following approval of oil deregulation policy by Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, dealers said.

“Approval of oil deregulation policy by ECC boosted interest in stocks of refineries and oil marketing companies (OMCs),” said Ahsan Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Investments. “Positive activity continued on institutional interest and renewed foreign buying in oil and gas and banking†sector scrips.”

The KSE 100-share index gained 52.55 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 10,484.39. The KSE 30-share index lost 10.06 points, or 0.10 percent, to end at 10,084.74. Shares of 405 companies were traded, out of which 209 advanced, 170 declined, while 26 remained unchanged.

Analysts said the market sentiment remained positive throughout the session ahead of major earnings announcements this week. The cement sector remained in the limelight as UN pledged funds for the reconstruction of flood-affected regions in Pakistan, which allowed the investors to ignore rising political tension in the country and security†problems in the city.

Hasnain Asghar Ali, a dealer at Aziz Fida Husein, said the benchmark kept gaining positive numbers on the back of early gains registered by OGDC.

“Activity by offshore participants, resident participants from both retail and corporate corridors kept the momentum alive. Support from the local groups in their listed stocks allowed the gains to stay intact, thereby allowing the market to reflect a positive posture.”

Stocks of almost all sectors witnessed renewed buying interest, initiated and led by the local financial groups, but the gloomy economic, financial, political and law and order situation restricted the local investors from actively participating. Majority of the regular players avoided taking long positions.

Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline

Securities, said that local investors appreciated Prime Minister’s speech as it sought to end tensions with the judiciary. “Local institutions joined foreign fund managers in the buying rally, which enabled the KSE-100 to cross 10,500-point mark after five months. However, early gains were eroded by late profit-taking.”

The ready market volumes decreased to 103.148 million shares compared with 112.609 million shares in the last trading session. Highest volumes were witnessed in LOTPTA with trade of 16.899 million shares. The scrip gained seven paisas to close at Rs9.69. It was followed by JSCL with trade of 14.639 million shares. It rose 52 paisas to end at Rs9.82. AHSL was the third with trade of 6.065 million shares. It surged Rs1.02 to finish at Rs23.24.

