Optimism prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday and the KSE-100 index extended gains as investors cheered the receipt of long-awaited $1.2 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche.

Late on Tuesday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that it had received the loan amount from the global lender.

Owing to the positivity, the KSE-100 closed with a gain of 108.93 points or 0.26% at 42,460.08 level.

Five-session losing run ends at PSX, KSE-100 rises 0.37%

Moreover, investors brushed off the upward revision in prices of petroleum products and lofty inflation reading as the KSE-100 index remained in the green zone throughout the day.

Trading began with a spike and the market kept on climbing in early hours however, selling pressure emerged towards noon and wiped off some of the gains. The final hours saw the index turn range-bound but still it managed to close with gains.

Majority index-heavy sectors closed in the green. Despite the positivity, fertiliser and chemical sector closed on a negative note.

A report from Capital Stake cited that optimistic sentiments prevailed at the PSX as it ended the session on Thursday in green. Indices traded in green all day long, whereas volumes surged from last close, it said.

The release of the loan tranche from IMF elevated investors’ confidence.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that market witnessed a positive session on Thursday as Pakistan received the first tranche of the extended fund facility from the IMF.

“Investor participation remained active throughout the day, healthy volumes were observed while the cement sector remained in the limelight,” the report said.

On the economic front, consumer price index (CPI) based inflation increased by 27.3% on a year-on-year basis in August 2022 compared to an increase of 24.9% in July 2022.

Moreover, the government of Pakistan raised petrol prices by Rs2.07 from Rs233.91 to Rs235.98 for the first 15 days of September. Diesel and Kerosene oil saw surge in prices as well.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 north included cement (83.07 points), banking (19.51 points) and technology and communication (18.75 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 248.2 million from 181.27 million on Wednesday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded jumped to Rs8.02 billion from Rs7.2 billion recorded in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 35.6 million shares, followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 23.6 million shares and Fauji Cement with 13.8 million shares.

Shares of 345 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 185 registered an increase, 132 recorded a fall, and 28 remained unchanged.