KSE-100 gains 299 points over expected IMF agreement

KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in a green territory throughout the day owing to the positive expectations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board meeting scheduled on Wednesday.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that improved activities were seen across the board as investors were keeping eyes on the expected improvements in the macros.

“Meanwhile, the inflation has jumped to 12.96 per cent in January 2022, marking the 2-year high, which doesn’t seem to drag the market sentiment due to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) forward guidance,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.66 per cent, or 299.82 points, to close at 45,674.5 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.47 per cent, or 83.87 points, to close at 17,913.83 points.

As many as 366 scrips were active of which 221 advanced, 115 declined and 30 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 312.5 million shares, compared with the turnover of 251.68 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed positive amid higher trades on bull-run in the global equities.

“Higher global crude oil prices, speculation over $3 billion loan from China and positive outcome of the IMF board review over the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) after the Senate passing off the SBP Amendment Bill 2021, played a catalyst role in the bullish close,” he said.

Going forward, the analysts expect the market to perform well post approval of the IMF deal, and suggest investors adopt a buy on dip strategy in the ongoing week.

The companies which reflected the highest gains, included Nestle Pakistan up Rs108.33 to close at Rs5,708.33/share, and Pak Services up Rs107.9 to close at Rs1,757.9/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses, included Bata Pakistan down Rs146.44 to close at Rs2,001.56/share, and Mehmood Textile down Rs4.5 to close at Rs687.5/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 25.49 million shares. The scrip gained 55 paisas to close at Rs22.72/share, followed by Worldcall Telecom with a turnover of 24.88 million shares as it gained 3 paisas to closes at Rs2.27/share. Treet Corporation remained the third with a turnover of 19.53 million shares. It gained 25 paisas to finish at Rs40.94/share.