Pakistan equity market closes record high as KSE-100 Index gains 1,120 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks celebrated a lower-than-expected interest rate hike, which was accompanied by the central bank’s guidance, hinting now at rate hike in January monetary policy, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed record high after lower-than-expected tightening of the key policy rate by 100bps, and the central bank’s affirming achievement for the end goal of close to positive real interest rates on forward looking basis.

“Falling T-Bills yields, market projections for reduction in trade and [the] current account deficit, amid hike in [the] policy rate and surge in remittances played a catalytic role in [the] bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 2.59 per cent, or 1,120.15 points, to close at 44,366.86 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 2.51 per cent, or 428.14 points, to close at 17,472.88 points.

As many as 374 scrips were active, of which 305 advanced, 60 declined and nine remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 398.09 million shares, compared with the turnover of 212.35 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the market witnessed a bullish session as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the forward looking mildly positive real interest rates were almost being attained after Tuesday’s hike, which boosted the confidence among the investors’ at the bourse.

“Wherein, most of the stocks of cement, technology, and E&P sectors closed at the upper circuit breaker. Additionally, the SBP expects the current account and trade deficits to moderate in [the second half of FY22] and can be financed through external resources.”

Going forward, analysts expect the market to continue the positive momentum, as yields in Wednesday’s auction came down.

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Colgate Palmolive, up Rs130 to close at Rs2,599/share; and Bata Pakistan, up Rs127.38 to close at Rs1,902.38/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Allawasaya Textile, down Rs47.5 to close at Rs2,450/share; and Shield Corporation, down Rs21.75 to close at Rs279.24/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 53.26 million shares. The scrip gained 40 paisas to close at Rs2.2/share; followed by Byco Petroleum with a turnover of 34.6 million shares. It gained 76 paisas to close at Rs6.2/share. Hascol Petroleum remained the third with a turnover of 19.77 million shares. It gained 53 paisas to finish at Rs6.54/share.