Pakistan bourse closes positive on likely IMF deal

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market closed higher on Friday amid higher trades as investors weigh the government’s decision to abolish the subsidy on the prices of petroleum products.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the investors’ confidence was boosted with the latest decision which is expected to pave the way for the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

“The completion of talks for the seventh review, setting up targets for fiscal year 2023, discussions over the federal budget due next month and surging global equities played a catalyst role in the bullish close,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.75 per cent, or 319.74 points, to close at 42,861.45 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.82 per cent, or 133.09 points, to close at 16,276.12 points.

As many as 368 scrips were active of which 223 advanced, 131 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 527.67 million shares, compared with the turnover of 347.06 million shares in the last trading session.

Mohammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global said that bulls pulled the Index to an intraday high of 43,555 but profit taking in the second half eventually led the market to close at 42,861.

“The market reacted positively to the government’s announcement of a Rs30/litre hike in the fuel price. Going forward, we expect the market to remain range bound in the coming sessions due to the political noise,” he added.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Rafhan Maize up Rs390 to close at Rs9,990/share, Sapphire Tex up Rs74.24 to close at Rs1,074.25/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Philip Morris Pak down Rs43.47 to close at Rs 536.53/share, and Thal Ind.Corp down Rs20.58 to close at Rs 253.91/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Cnergyico PK with a turnover of 64 million shares. The scrip gained 14 paisas to close at Rs5.73/share, followed by Pak Refinery with a turnover of 55.63 million shares.

It shed 9 paisas to close at Rs17.79/share. WorldCall Telecom remained the third with a turnover of 21.50 million shares. It shed 3 paisas to finish at Rs1.57/share.