KARACHI: Led by the cement sector, Pakistani stocks rose 1 percent to end at a near four-year-high on Monday, closing at over 14,000 points on hopes of soon to be announced strong corporate profits, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed 1.05 percent, or 146.96 points, higher at 14,083.44, the highest close since May 2008.
Volume was 213.34 million shares, compared with 244.2 million shares traded on Friday.
Amongst the most active companies, Fauji Cement ended 2.95 percent higher at 6.97 rupees, Bank Alfalah rose 3.68 percent to end at 17.45 rupees, and financial services company Jahangir Sidiqui gained 1.66 percent to end at 18.39 rupees.
In the currency market the rupee ended weaker at 90.90/96 to the dollar, compared with Friday's close of 90.75/80, because of a rise in import payments.
The rupee has been supported in the last week by remittances, which rose 21.45 percent to $9.73 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $8.02 billion in the same period last year. In March, remittances totaled $1.14 billion. (Reuters)