KARACHI:
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recorded gains on Monday as investors expected the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan program to revive soon.
The KSE-100 rose in early trading after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) rolled over a !1.3 billion loan.
Hopes that the loan could temporarily stabilize Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves before the IMF’s loan program resumes helped accelerate the index’s advance into the green zone.
Meanwhile, a 0.19% recovery in the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar in the interbank market added momentum to the positive momentum, taking the rate to an intraday high of 41,797.71 points.
Towards the end of trading, the market lost several points and closed the day with marginal gains.
Arif Habib Commodities MD Ahsan Mehanti said: “Equities have shown bullish activity on the recovery of a strong rupee ahead of this week’s agreement at the IMF staff level.”
At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 was up 97.33 points, or 0.24%, at 41,434.33.
Topine Securities said in a report that Pakistani stocks closed marginally positive, with the benchmark KSE-100 at 41,434 (up 0.24%).
“The market opened on a positive note as investors cheered news of the resumption of virtual talks with IMD and ICBC’s approval of a $1.3 billion swap, pushing the index to an intraday high of 460 points,” it said.
Major gainers were Pakistan Petroleum, TRG Pakistan, Lucky Cement, Abbott Laboratories and Cherat Cement, which collectively added 105 points to the index.
Trading volume and value for the day were 221.6 million shares (up 13%) and Rs 7.3 billion (down 6%) on a single-day basis, Topline added.
Arif Habib Limited noted in its commentary that it witnessed a positive session on the PSX at the beginning of the working week.
“The market started to rally shortly after the opening bell on expectations of a staff-level agreement with the IMF this week and reached 460.71 points intraday,” it said.
“Investors gain confidence after rupee strengthens against US dollar.”
There was active investor participation throughout the day as healthy volumes were seen across the board.
Sectors that contributed to market performance include miscellaneous (+61.5 points), cement (+37.4 points), exploration and production (+35.6 points), technology and communications (+31.6 points) and pharmaceuticals (+9 .4 points) entered.
The trade value fell 6.5 percent to $26.1 million from Friday’s $27.9 million, the AHL report added.
Muhammad Shuja Qureshi, an analyst at JS Global commented that the positive momentum of the last trading session continued, pushing the index up to 41,798.
“Investors are advised to be cautious at current levels and wait for clarity on the political and economic front,” the analyst added.
Total trading volume increased to 221.6 million shares, compared to Friday’s 194.8 million shares. Shares traded during the day were worth 7.3 billion rupees.
Shares of 334 companies were traded. At the time of closing, 206 stock exchanges closed higher, 111 – fell, and 17 – remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the leader in volume trading with 42.1 million shares, gaining Rs 0.01 to close at Rs 1.31. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 18.1 million shares, trading Re1 at Rs 6.93 and TPL Properties with 10.6 million shares, gaining Rs 0.23 to close at Rs 14.7.
According to National Clearing Company Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth Rs 355 crore during the trading session.
