Stocks tick up over imminent IMF loan revival

KSE-100 index adds 97.33 points and settles at 41,434.33

KARACHI:

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) registered gains on Monday as investors expected immediate revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

The KSE-100 index spiked as soon as trading began following the rollover of a !1.3 billion loan by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Expectations that the loan might temporarily stabalise the extremely thing foreign currency reserves of Pakistan until the resumption of IMF loan programme helped the index to accelerate its advance in the green zone.

Furthermore, Pakistani rupee's recovery against the US dollar by 0.19% in the inter-bank market gave a boost to the positive momentum, taking the course to an intra-day high of 41,797.71 points.

The market lost a few points towards the end of trading and closed the day with marginal gains.

“Stocks showed bullish activity on strong rupee recovery ahead of the IMF staff-level agreement due this week,” said Arif Habib Commodities MD Ahsan Mehanti.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index registered a slight increase of 97.33 points, or 0.24%, and settled at 41,434.33.

Topine Securities, in its resport, said that Pakistan equities closed slightly positive where the benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 41,434 (up 0.24%).

"The market opened on a positive note as investors cheered the news of resumption of virtual talks with the IMD and approval of $1.3 billion rollover by ICBC, which led the index to an intra-day high of 460 points," it said.

Pakistan Petroleum, TRG Pakistan, Lucky Cement, Abbott Laboratories and Cherat Cement were the major gainers, which cumulatively added 105 points to the index. 

Traded volume and value for the day stood at 221.6 million shares (up 13%) and Rs7.3 billion (down 6%) on a day-on-day basis, respectively, Topline added.

Arif Habib Limited, in its comments, remarked that at the beginning of business week, a positive session was witnessed at the PSX.

“The market started rising shortly after the opening bell owing to expectations of reaching a staff-level agreement with the IMF this week and hit an intra-day high of 460.71 points,” it said.

“Investors gained much confidence after the rupee gained strength against the US dollar.”

There was active investor participation throughout the day as healthy volumes were observed across the board.

Sectors contributing to the market’s performance included miscellaneous (+61.5 points), cement (+37.4 points), exploration and production (+35.6 points), technology and communication (+31.6 points) and pharmaceuticals (+9.4 points).

Traded value decreased by 6.5% to $26.1 million as against $27.9 million on Friday, the AHL report added.

JS Global analyst Muhammad Shuja Qureshi commented that positive momentum from the last trading session continued, taking the index to a high of 41,798.

“Investors are advised to stay cautious at current levels and wait for clarity on the political and economic fronts,” the analyst added.

Overall trading volumes increased to 221.6 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 194.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.3 billion.

Shares of 334 companies were traded. At close, 206 stocks closed higher, 111 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with trading in 42.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs1.31. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 18.1 million shares, gaining Re1 to close at Rs6.93 and TPL Properties with 10.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.23 to close at Rs14.7.

Foreign investors were net sellers of Rs355 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL).