Benchmark index increases 310.78 points to settle at 34,307.11. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: The stock market continued to rally for the third successive trading session on Tuesday, surging past the 34,300-mark ahead of approval of a $6-billion bailout package for Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board.
Despite a bearish start, the benchmark KSE-100 index managed to recover on the back of improvement in the rupee's value against the US dollar and pending approval of the loan by the IMF Executive Board. Lower-than-expected inflation reading also contributed to the positive trend in the stock market.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 310.78 points, or 0.91%, to settle at 34,307.11.
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market remained volatile throughout the session, touching an intra-day low of 77 points and high of 344 points. It closed at 34,307.
"Positivity in the market came at the eleventh hour as buyers jumped in to cherry-pick value buys," he said.
On the news front, Saudi Arabia has started supplying oil to Pakistan on deferred payments worth $9.9 billion. The banking sector spiked where HBL (+1.9%), MCB Bank (+1.1%), NBP (+4.6%) and Bank AL Habib (+0.7%) remained in the green zone.
Cement and exploration and production sectors moved up where DG Khan Cement (+2.9%), Maple Leaf Cement (+2.8%), Cherat Cement (+3.3%), Pioneer Cement (+2.6%), Pakistan Oilfields (+1.4%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (+0.7%) were the major movers.
"Moving forward, we expect the market to remain volatile until the IMF meeting is conducted. We recommend investors to buy on dips," Mulla said.
Overall, trading volumes increased to 91.2 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 48 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.1 billion.
Shares of 307 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 206 stocks closed higher, 77 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 13.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs4.38. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 8.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.82 to close at Rs17.20 and Lotte Chemical with 6.97 million shares, gaining Rs0.89 to close at Rs16.27.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs438.5 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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