KARA CHI - Some positive news relating to economy and politics continued to boost equities at the Karachi Stock Exchange on Thursday. The KSE-100 Index gained 176 points, 2.79 percent on Thursday while trading activity was further improved as market volume edged up to 277 million shares. The KSE-100 Index opened in the green zone with a gain of 75.65 points and at the end of the day closed at 6441 points with a gain of 175.92 points. Market witnessed day's high level of 6460.31. Total trading value of the market remained 9.773 billion rupees as compared to the last session's value of 8.723 billion rupees. Out of 386 active symbols at KSE, as many as 176 advanced, 199 lost value while the worth of the shares of 11 cos remained unchanged. Trading activity was healthier as compared to the last trading session as the ready market volume stands at 276.790 million shares as compared to last trading session's 233.757 million shares. Market capitalisation stood up to over Rs. 1.946 trillion against previous day's Rs 1.899 trillion showing growth of Rs 47 billion. Investors took position in Oil, banks, fertilizer scrips on strong fundamentals of Pakistan economy and expectation of early resolution of political issues after restoration of judiciary. NIB Bank once again was witnessed as the volume leader of the day with the trading of 36.903 million shares on Thursday. Among other well-traded shares were E&P giant OGDC 18.930 million shares, PTCL 18.8m shares, Pak PTA 15.122m shares, Nishat Mills 14.905m shares, Bank Al-Falah 12.107m shares, Jahangir Siddiqui 11.051m shares, DGK Cement 9.359m shares namely. Major gainers at the KSE include Nestle Pakistan (SPOT) gained 27 rupees/share and closed at Rs1068, Unilever Pakistan added 14.52 rupees/share and its total value was increased to Rs1905.11, Bata Pakistan gained 14.16 rupees/share and closed at Rs627.83, Shell Pakistan gained 9.62 rupees/share and closed at Rs202.14, PSO gained 8.54 rupees/share taking its total value to Rs179.79. On the other hand, Siemens Pakistan lost 6.50 rupees/share and closed at Rs725 with the trading of only 600 shares, Atlas Honda lost 5.26 rupees/share and its value was decreased to Rs 101.74, Tri-Pack Films lost 4.97 rupees/share and closed at Rs97.19, Gillette Pakistan lost 4.79 rupees/share and closed at Rs 91.10. Meeting called by the Board of Directors (BOD) of KSE on Friday to address the issues pertaining to trading and the decision to call senior participants for their input on the issues pertaining to low turnover and exposure related matters, did infuse ray of hope amongst the participants, that was duly reflected in the market. "Smoke emitting political gossip related to the materialisation of executive order announced on Monday regarding reinstatement, reservations expressed by some and the fact that index has been registering unprecedented surge, did invite profit taking on gains", stated market analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali. He further said that the individual investors along with the corporate participants resisted the profit-taking as the news of surplus current account balance and budgetary support of 200 million euros assured by EU, financial assistance $700 million from ADB and WB, and doubling of assistance by the US kept the sentiments high. Materialisation of commitment will not only strengthen the dollar reserve but will also support in stabilising the local currency. Sector and stock swapping however kept the benchmark stagnant for a while, constant accumulation however allowed bulls to take the dominating position.