Pakistan stocks remain bullish on IMF tranche

KARACHI: The Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its bullish run on Tuesday, as the investors welcomed the likely release of a $2.8 billion tranche under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and the rising automobile, as well as petroleum products sales, dealers said.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the positive momentum continued with the KSE-100 shares index trading in green throughout the day.

“Investors cheered an improvement in July’s trade deficit. Moreover, the approval by [the] IMF Board of Governors for the $650 billion SDR (special drawing rights) allocation after which [the] expectations of Pakistan receiving $2.8 billion by the end of August further buoyed [the] sentiment at the bourse.”

The benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.64 per cent, or 305.07 points, to close at 47,758.32 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.66 per cent, or 124.84 points, to close at 19,110.07 points.

As many as 482 scrips were active, of which 335 advanced, 120 declined and 27 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 443.21 million shares, compared with the turnover of 252.34 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the benchmark index continued to exhibit a bull run by successfully closing in the green territory, despite the rising Covid cases and increased restrictions by the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) across the country.

“Optimism kept inching up in the market, as Pakistan is likely to get $2.8 billion from [the] IMF under [the] new SDR allocation. Resultantly, the market made an intraday high of 47,809 (+355 points) to close at 47,758 level (+305 points).”

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed higher led by across-the-board scrips, as investors weighed strong data on auto sales, surging 12.5 per cent and oil sales up 16 per cent in July 2021.

“Reports of record $2.35 billion exports in July 2021, surging 17.3 per cent, PM’s export target of up to $40 billion in FY22 and easing inflation played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”

Going forward, analysts expect the market to remain positive in the current week.

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Unilever Foods, up Rs500.50 to close at Rs16,900/share; and Bata Pakistan, up Rs75 to close at Rs1,625/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses, included Nestle Pakistan, down Rs31.46 to close at Rs5,878.54/share; and Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs25.94 to end at Rs1,256.06/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with the turnover of 36.35 million shares. The scrip gained 16 paisas to close at Rs3.64/share; followed by Telecard Limited with the turnover of 29.47 million shares. It gained Rs1.18 to close at Rs17.04/share. Byco Petroleum was the third with the turnover of 29.39 million shares. It gained 26 paisas to finish at Rs10.32.

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