Karachi
Bulls returned to the bourse on Friday and lifted the KSE-100 index above the 41,000-point mark for some time as it traded at 11-month high levels, supported by buying interest in stocks of oil companies.
The index was last seen trading above 41,000 points in February 2019. So far, the market has regained over 11,000 points after hitting a five-year low at 28,671 points in August 2019.
The exploration and production sector saw aggressive buying owing to increase in international crude oil prices. Similarly, oil and gas marketing firms also saw multiple stocks hit their upper cap.
The index shot up as soon as trading began in the morning and maintained the uptrend till the end of the first session, which took the KSE-100 above 41,000 points. The first session ended with a gain of over 500 points.
In the second session, the strong investor sentiment faded away as market players resorted to stock selling, which dragged the market down and erased some of the gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 402.42 points, or 0.99%, to settle at 40,916.59.