KSE-100 index reverses bearish trend, gains 230 points

• Fluctuation in currency, uncertainty regarding the IMF programme restricted gains at the bourse.
• During the session, shares of 340 listed companies were traded.
• Market positively reacted to the news of the ADB's plan to provide Pakistan around $10bn in fresh assistance.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reversed the downtrend, however, uncertainty regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme made some investors reassess how the economy could perform in the coming months.

Market players are also eyeing the rupee-dollar parity and economic impact of the measures taken by the government to curb surging inflation in the country.

Moreover, the market positively reacted to the news of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) plan to provide Pakistan around $10 billion in fresh assistance for various development projects in addition to $700 million financings currently available to procure COVID-19 vaccines.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 229.97 points, or 0.50%, to settle at 46,629.88 points.

A report from Arif Habib Limited (AHL) noted that the index stayed in the green zone throughout the day as the market celebrated the statement from Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance that no proposal regarding the PM to seek help of IMF chief was under consideration, which eventually gave confidence to investors. 

"The market opened on a positive note as traders took bet on cement, steel and technology stocks," it said. 

Accumulation was witnessed in the banking sector as investors are keeping an eye on the rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy. 

The brokerage house reported that on the institutional front, buying activity was observed in the cement sector as inflows appeared through mutual funds.

Sectors contributing to the performance include fertiliser (+80 points), exploration and production (+70 points), technology (+21 points), pharma (+21 points) and power (+20 points).

During the session, shares of 340 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 183 stocks closed in the green, 134 in the red, and 23 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 320.3 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 434.7 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.6 billion.

First National Equities was the volume leader with 39.04 million shares, losing Rs0.94 to close at Rs10.10. It was followed by Service Fabrics with 30.5 million shares, losing Rs0.70 to close at Rs11.44, and Ghani Global Holdings with 23.8 million shares, losing Rs0.61 to close at Rs33.24.