KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse closed on a positive note on Wednesday on the back of the coalition government’s decision to rule till August 2023, coupled with the resumption of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
An analyst at Pearl Securities said that positive sentiments prevailed in the market as the talks on the resumption of the IMF programme started at the staff level.
“Moreover, the US offered strong support to provide economic relief to Pakistan. However, the rupee continues to lose value closing at a historic low of Rs198.39 with higher international oil prices,” he added.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.70 per cent, or 300.82 points, to close at 43,026.88 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.70 per cent, or 114 points, to close at 16,360.38 points.
As many as 345 scrips were active of which 245 advanced, 83 declined and 17 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 197.91 million shares, compared with the turnover of 278.80 million shares in the last trading session.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks recovered sharply as investors weigh improving Pakistan-US relations after the foreign minister’s visit to US, easing political noise and the likely release of $1 billion tranche following the ongoing talks with the IMF.
“Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) likely approval of upto $2 billion additional support loan till Dec 2022 and reports of GDP growth to be around 6 per cent in fiscal year 2023 played a catalyst role in the bullish close,” he added.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened in the positive zone after a week-long negative momentum. A ray of hope arising from the political front helped investors to bottom fish the value stocks.
“The KSE-100 Index stayed in the green zone during the day whereas the main board activity remained dull due to continuous rising of dollar against the rupee and lack of clarity regarding fiscal adjustment and resumption of the IMF programme. Although hefty volumes were witnessed in 3rd tier stocks,” he added.
Going forward, the analysts expect the market to witness profit taking at high levels. Hence, recommending investors adopt the “Sell on Strength” strategy in the upcoming sessions.
The companies which reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan up Rs89 to close at Rs5,790/share, and Gatron Ind up Rs28.76 to close at Rs448.75/share.
The companies which reflected the most losses included Sapphire Fiber down Rs76.99 to close at Rs952.01/share, and Sapphire Tex down Rs75.70 to close at Rs934.50/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 27.07 million shares. The scrip gained 6 paisas to close at Rs1.54/share, followed by Cnergyico PK with a turnover of 24.14 million shares. It shed 6 paisas to close at Rs5.22/share. Telecard Limited remained the third with a turnover of 23.21 million shares. It gained 87 paisas to finish at Rs11.05/share.