Stocks closed bullish Tuesday on strong earnings outlook with investors’ interest in stocks across the board.At local equity market, the benchmark KSE 100-share index gained 253.28 points or 1.52 per cent to close the day at 16,894.09 points.Analyst at Arif Habib Corp Ahsan Mehanti said higher global commodities, easing political uncertainty and renewed foreign interest played a catalyst role in bullish close in stocks at KSE ahead of major earning announcements due this week.

KSE allshare-index added 150.96 points or 1.29 per cent to finish the day at 11876.99 points, KSE 30-share index gained 208.26 points or 1.53 per cent to finish the day at 13788.61 points while KMI 30-share index increased by 447.81 points or 1.56 per cent to conclude the day at 29228.81 points.Aggressive institutional buying helped equities to gain 1.5% with improving volumes. Reduction in political temperature coupled with likely announcements of December results compelled investors to buy quality stocks. National Bank closed at upper limit thanks to institutional buying as investors believe that the bank will again pay a handsome dividend. FFC also improved in expectation of healthy payout, dealer observed.

Market traded 184.130 million shares after opening at 128.251 million shares and the value of traded shares climbed to Rs 6.294 billion from Rs 3.728 billion. The capitalization of stock market settled at Rs 4.209 trillion compared to Rs 4.155 trillion of a day earlier.Trading took place in 350 companies where gainers held a strong lead over the losers by 238 to 85 while the values of 27 stocks remained intact. Unilever Food was the top loser of the day, down by Rs 200 to Rs 3800, followed by Island Textile, shed Rs 50 to Rs 950. Nestle Pakistan Limited and Bata (Pak) were the biggest gainers of the day, up by Rs 95 to Rs 4600 and Rs 35 to Rs 1285.

Fauji Cement was the volume leader of the day with 14.243 million shares, shed Re 0.09 to Rs 7.39. JS Company was on the second position 12.065 million shares. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 11.936 million shares, off by Re 0.20 to Rs 16.22, PTCLA with 9.851 million shares, gained Re 0.61 to Rs 16.86 and National Bank Pak with 9.644 million shares, up by Re 2.44 to Rs 51.26.