KARACHI: Pakistan Equities gained on Thursday with benchmark KSE100 Index settling above 41,000 level, up 1.3 percent day-on-day (DoD). The KSE-100 index gained 527.87 points to close at 41,049.91 points level. The KSE-100 Index remained positive throughout the session partly due to the news that PTI Government has invited IMF team to Islamabad for talks. Moreover, there were no further negative news about the mini-budget that is likely to be presented to the Parliament on Tuesday, said IIS securities’ analyst. Market witnessed impressive recovery amid aggressive value buying in Cements, Oils and Chemicals. Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF) clocked impressive volumes of around 22 million shares on reported crossings between institutional investors around Rs 51 levels. This was followed by strong buying in Lucky Cement (LUCK) with 2.6 percent gains, DG Khan Cement (DGKC) with 3.9 percent gains and Pioneer Cement (PIOC) with 5 percent gains. Investor interest and activity was also on the higher side in Oil & Exploration Sector which contributed 80 points to the gains in KSE100 Index, driven by continued gains in global crude oil prices (which have now neared 2014 levels). In stock specific news, Tariq Glass Limited (TGL) informed the Exchange about the earth breaking ceremony of their Float Glass Plant (Unit-2). Muhammad Arbash, an analyst at Elixir Securities, expects settlement data to be released in the evening today to show foreign outflows from the Cement Sector. If other sectors also show aggressive selling by foreigners then that may spoil the new found joy in the market. Ismail Iqbal Securities (Pvt.) Limited. Oil and Gas E&P stocks like OGDC (+1.26%), PPL (+2.07%) and POL (+1.55%) closed in green due to a rally in international oil prices on the back of 5.3m bbls decline in US crude oil inventories. The advance to decline ratio in the broader market remained in the favor of bulls. Today the total 343 scrips participated, 222 of them advanced, 99 declined while 22 scrips remained unchanged. Published in Daily Times, September 14th 2018.