PSX’s new highs of 57,397 points after IMF staff-level agreement

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) breached the 57,000 points barrier for the first time on Thursday, a day after the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 716.96 points (1.26 percent) to close at 57,397.02 points.
The IMF will issue $700 million to Pakistan as a second tranche of the nine-month bailout package and these will be subject to approval from the IMF’s executive board, the lender said in a statement on Wednesday. This will bring total disbursements under the $3 billion package, approved in July, to almost $1.9 billion. Thursday’s optimism followed a flat day at the market, as stocks saw consolidation over the decision by MSCI – a provider of global indices for passive investments – to reduce the weight of Pakistani shares in its frontier market’s benchmark a day ago.
Moreover, Wednesday’s Treasury bills’ auction once again reassured the market’s expectations of the peak in interest rates. A record-high participation in 12-month MTBs was seen for the third consecutive auction. The yields for all three tenors fell by 45-50bps to 21.5 percent. This suggests that the market is anticipating a downward trend in interest rates.
Meanwhile, the PKR gained 76 paisas (+0.26 percent) against the US dollar in the interbank market after recording consecutive losses in 17 sessions. The State Bank of Pakistan said the rupee closed at Rs287.38. This also gave a boost to the investors’ confidence.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 1,017.73 points, showing an intraday high of 57,549.26 points and an intraday low of 56,531.53 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 713.57 points (+1.83 percent) to close at 38,382.83 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 606.40 points (+2.12 percent) to close at 28,555.82 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 53.03 million to 359.82 million shares against 306.79 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 495.09 million shares to 1,056.71 million shares against 661.62 million shares traded a session earlier. The market volume remained at the highest level since June 17, 2021.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 386.37 million shares, followed by CNERGY (45.15 million) and SNGP (39.58 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, CNERGY, PRL, PAEL, and OGDC, which formed around 50 percent of total volumes.
A total of 371 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 357 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 234 closed up, shares of 116 companies closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 97 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 97 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 63 companies closed up, 33 closed down and one remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased to 291,717 from 263,656 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs4.51 billion to Rs28.86 billion against Rs24.35 billion in the previous session. This is the highest traded value during the last two years.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs400 (+4.76 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,800. The runner-up remained PAKT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs55 (+5.88 percent) to Rs990. BHAT remained the top loser for the second straight session with a decrease of Rs14.89 (-1.6 percent) per share, closing at Rs915.11, followed by FASM, the share price of which fell by Rs13.96 (-4.06 percent) to close at Rs330 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (302 points), fertilizer (98 points), oil & gas marketing companies (70 points), technology & communication (54 points), and food & personal care products (45 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained OGDC (139 points), PPL (127 points), EFERT (77 points), PSO (52 points), and MARI (33 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were automobile assembler (15 points), paper & board (7 points), refinery (4 points), and transport property (one point each). The major companies depriving the index of points remained BAHL (29 points), MTL (22 points), BAFL (12 points), LUCK (9 points), and FCCL (8 points). – TLTP