KSE-100 edges up on positive economic data

KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse on Wednesday closed higher as investors’ confidence was boosted due to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) affirming steady rates coupled with the falling bond yields.

“The government revised the growth rate to 5.4 per cent for fiscal year 2021, and the global crude oil prices rose which played a catalyst role in the bullish close,” Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.15 per cent, or 67.28 points, to close at 44,955.05 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.24 per cent, or 42.04 points, to close at 17,738.31 points.

As many as 333 scrips were active of which 130 advanced, 179 declined and 24 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 137.30 million shares, compared with the turnover of 207.04 million shares in the last trading session.

“The market witnessed another profit taking session as the international markets turned volatile amid concerns over US Fed Reserves’ policy rate hike. Additionally, the IMF programme has been delayed and rescheduled to February 2, 2022 which further lowered the participant’s interest,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.

“However, late recovery was seen in the technology sector leading the index to close in a green zone,” he added.

Going forward, the analysts expect the market to move both ways ahead of the delay in the IMF programme and rollover week, Therefore, suggesting investors to book profits at a higher level.

The companies which reflected the highest gains, included Unilever Foods up Rs1,562 to close at Rs22,409/share, and Colgate Palm up Rs171.99 to close at Rs2,466/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses, included Rafhan Maize down Rs300 to close at Rs9,600/share, and Sapphire Fiber down Rs53.80 to close at Rs812/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in TRG Pak Ltd with a turnover of 18.80 million shares. The scrip gained Rs5.78 to close at Rs81.29/share, followed by Ghani Global Holdings with a turnover of 6.01 million shares, shedding 20 paisas to close at Rs19.67/share. TPL Properties remained the third with a turnover of 5.88 million shares. It shed 9 paisas to finish at Rs27.52/share.