KSE-100 jumps 0.44% on budget optimism

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a rally on Thursday and the KSE-100 index ticked up 0.44% as investors remained optimistic over the forthcoming budget announcement on Friday.

Moreover, strengthening of the rupee against the greenback in the inter-bank market for the second successive session also enhanced investor confidence and lifted the equity market upward.

Trading kicked off positively and the market surged close to 42,000 point mark by midday. Profit-taking in the second half of the session erased some of the gains but still the market ended higher.

At close, the index ended up at 41,735.96, a rise of 182.8 points, or 0.44%.

Index-heavy automobile and oil and gas exploration sectors led the uptrend.

KSE-100 ends flat as market awaits budget 2022-23

In its report, Arif Habib Limited (AHL) said that the PSX remained positive throughout the day due to strengthening of rupee against US dollar and accumulation of value stocks.

Pharmaceutical and technology sectors remained in the limelight due to rumors of tax relief in the upcoming budget. Main board activity gained momentum while hefty volumes were observed in the third tier stocks, AHL said.

Meanwhile, according to Next Capital, positive momentum was witnessed throughout the trading session with bulls dominating the day, leading the index to close positive.

On the economic front, the Pakistani rupee gained Rs0.75 against or 0.37% on day-on-day basis to close the day at Rs200.76.

As per media reports, the World Bank has projected Pakistan’s GDP growth rate to be 4% in 2022-2023, lower than the 2022-2021 figure of 5.70%. While presenting the Pakistan Economic Survey, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said Pakistan achieved a GDP growth of 5.97% as per new estimates.

However, he said "the current account deficit has gone out of control and we see a balance of payment crisis."

Economic Survey 2021-22: Miftah hopeful forex reserves will rise to $12bn after China payment

He expressed hope that foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will rise to $12 billion in coming days.

Sectors pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index upward included oil and gas exploration (38.43 points), pharmaceutical (27.43 points) and technology and communication (27.37 points).

Volume on the all-share index surged to 235.4 million from 151.1 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded increased to Rs5.47 billion from Rs4.49 billion recorded in the previous session.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 31.8 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 28.3 million shares, and Unity Foods with 16.8 million shares.

Shares of 328 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 178 registered an increase, 120 recorded a fall, and 30 remained unchanged.