Pakistan equities closed Thursday on a positive note with benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 340 points, closing at 34,996, up 1 percent. The index kicked off on a positive note, making a high of +405 point and a low of -10 points during the trade. The rise in international oil prices should help index gain momentum in the upcoming sessions. An equity analyst at IIS Securities said the KSE-100 index remained positive throughout the session Thursday. The positive sentiments and trends were due to the news that EU is ready to help Pakistan come out of FATF grey list and that there is decline in current account deficit which now stands at 4.8 percent of GDP compared to 6.2 percent in the corresponding period last year. Fertilizers, commercial banks, Exploration and Production (E&Ps) and cements were among major drivers of the index Thursday, cumulatively contributing 219 points. Cements, E&Ps and Financials were movers where LUCK (+1.2%), DGKC (+4.1%), POL (+1.7%), OGDC (+0.7%), MCB (+1.1%) and HBL (+0.8%) closed in the green. “The bulls outpaced the bears as the Pakistan equities turned green. Pakistan stock market bounced back steadily and ended up with significant gains. Discounted stock prices across the board tempted investors to begin cherry picking”, said Next Capital’s equity analyst. Major contribution to total market volume came from SMBL, WTL, and JSCL churning 47mn shares out of the total market all share volume of 162 million shares. The traded value stood at $29 million, up 32 percent and volume stood at 163 million shares, up 64 percent. Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from SMBL (+1.6%), WTL (+5.3%), JSCL (-2.4%), PAEL (+4.0%) and MLCF (+3.1%).