Pakistan equity market witnesses upward momentum

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks witnessed upward momentum on Thursday propelled by the news that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has started meetings to promulgate a mini-budget, which will introduce new and expand the current tax revenue streams to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) demands, analysts said.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said a clarification by the World Bank country director that they were not delaying $1.1 billion supported bullish momentum.

“However, profit-taking in leveraged stocks based on the expectation of a hike in the policy rate limited the upward potential of the rally.”

The benchmark KSE-100 Index reached an intraday high of 274 points and closed at 38,832 points, up 40 points, or 0.01 per cent.

The All-share volume increased 3 per cent to 158 million shares against 153 million shares traded on Wednesday.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed higher, as investors’ weighed upbeat data on the current account deficit, falling to $400 million in December 2022 to shrink 78 per cent and the government’s decision to implement reforms for the IMF programme.

“The midsession pressure remained on the foreign direct investment (FDI) at negative $17 million in December 2022 and the rupee instability. The investors’ speculations in the earnings season and the central bank chief’s affirmation on deliberations on opening the letters of credit (LCs), and the arrival of dollar inflows next week played a catalytic role in the positive close.

The volume leaders in the KSE-100 benchmark Index included Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) with 14 million shares, TRG Pakistan with 11 million shares and Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) with 11 million shares.

Going forward, the analysts expect the upside potential of the benchmark KSE-100 Index to remain limited until certainty pertaining to the IMF’s ninth review and the country’s political outlook can be established.

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