KARACHI: Pakistan equities resumed gains on Tuesday after a three-day hiatus on the back of strong participation from local investors, where the index jumped by 592 points or 1.4 percent to close at 42,940 points level. Market opened on a positive note and traded higher during the day as sentiments were boosted not only due to a sizeable foreign inflow in the last couple of sessions but positives on the domestic political front also helped as chairman Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) announced holding only a one-day protest tomorrow against market expectations of a long sit-in. Major sectors namely financials, oils and steels along with select cements contributed to the days surge primarily on reported buying from local institutions. Habib Bank (HBL) gaining 3.9 percent topped the leader-board followed by Lucky Cements with 3.4 percent advancement and Oil & Gas Dev Company with 2.2 percent gain while most dent came from Sui Northern Gas that lost 3.7 percent value on profit-taking. Meanwhile, the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines led the volume chart for the second day with more than 16 million shares exchanging hands on back of the news of privatization process of core business to be completed in accordance with the law before 15th April. “We see volatile trading tomorrow with participants closely monitoring the political development and seeking clarification on the next course of action against government as cleric led PAT along with opposition parties holds protest”, said Elixir Research Department’s analyst. Overall volumes also improved to 161 million shares, up 23 percent from previous trading session, while traded value also reported an impressive increase of 24 percent. Crude oil prices edged higher in the international market and as a result POL (+2.6%), OGDC (+2.2%) and PPL (+1.4%) from the E&P sector closed in the green trajectory. Investors opted for value buying in the Cement sector where LUCK (+3.4%), PIOC (+4.5%), DGKC (+1.8%) and KOHC (+2.0%) increased the most. JS Research’s analyst Maaz Mulla expects market to remain range bound on the back of political fiasco and recommend investors to accumulate stocks on dips. Published in Daily Times, January 17th 2018.