KSE-100 ends with 790-point gain as bullish sentiment drives the day

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a strong rally on account of positive news across the political and economic fronts that boosted investor confidence, helping the benchmark KSE-100 Index gain close to 800 points on Monday.

The benchmark had risen over 1,000 points in intra-day trading, easily moving past the 47,000-point level. However, profit-taking meant the index ended with clipped gains.

At close, the KSE-100 Index settled higher by 790.07 points or 1.71% to finish at 46,974.78.

The market also saw a substantial increase in volumes after technical issues plagued the PSX last week. The management decided to shift trading to the previous system called the Karachi Automated Trading System (KATS) as a short-term measure, announced the PSX over the weekend.

PSX reverts to KATS as 'short-term measure'

Meanwhile, clarity on the political front saw the government announce that an agreement had been reached with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Sunday.

Similarly, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue announced that matters with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are almost settled and an agreement will be signed this week.

“Market has been bouyant due to positive development on political concerns; news flow of signs of agreement with IMF, and no increase in petrol price which will keep future inflation in check,” Saad Hashmey, Executive Director at BMA Capital, told Business Recorder.

“The PKR has continued to gain, which is giving confidence to investors.”

On the economic front, Pakistan’s CPI inflation increased to 9.2% YoY in October 2021 as compared to an increase of 9.0% in the previous month.

In corporate news, Feroze1888 Mills Limited announced earnings for 1QFY22 at Rs436 million, alongside an EPS of Rs1.16, down by 73% YoY and 50% QoQ.

On Monday, sectors that kept the benchmark KSE 100 index positive included cement (151.68 points), fertiliser (97.45 points) and oil & gas exploration (79.36 points).

Volume on the all-share index increased from 270.4 million on Friday to 430.1 million on Monday. The value of the shares trade also recovered, amounting to Rs14.78 billion from Rs9.73 billion on Friday.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 53.86 million shares, followed by Byco Petroleum with 24.51 million shares, and Hum Network with 23.21 million shares.

Shares of 372 companies were traded on Monday, of which 271 registered an increase, 87 recorded a fall, while 14 remained unchanged.