Investor optimism continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday and the KSE-100 Index rose 0.8%, driven by late session buying activity.

Renewed confidence of investors on hopes of resumption of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme motivated them to make fresh buying.

On one hand, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated that the government will share budget details with the global lender to unlock next tranche of loan while on the other hand, IMF Chief to Pakistan Nathan Porter underlined that Pakistan and IMF continued engagements for revival of the deal.

The KSE-100 index closed the trading session at 41,671.65, an increase of 331.59 points or 0.8%.

Investor optimism lifts KSE-100 by nearly 1%

Following an upward open, the KSE-100 Index traded in a narrow range for most part of the day. A buying spree, towards closing hours, helped elevate the gains.

All index-heavy sectors including automobile, banking, cement, fertiliser and oil ended the day in the green.

A report from Capital Stake cited that positive momentum continued to prevail at the PSX on Tuesday. Indices accumulated gains all day long while market volumes fell from last close, it said.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that another productive session was recorded at the PSX.

“The market began with sustained bullish sentiments from the previous close as the bulls stayed active throughout the day,” it said. “The PSX soared when the finance minister indicated that the government was on track to resume negotiations with the IMF for the long-overdue 9th review of the Extended Fund Facility.”

Investor activity was reasonable, with moderate volumes across the board, with third-tier companies continuing to dominate the volume board, the report said.

Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE-100 index higher included cement (104.60 points), oil and gas exploration (69.54 points) and technology and communication (62.23 points).

Volume on the all-share index fell sharply to 197.7 million from 346.4 million on Monday, while the value of shares traded contracted to Rs6.4 billion from Rs6.42 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 31.1 million shares followed by Air Link Communication with 21.3 million shares and TPL Properties with 10.8 million shares.

Shares of 342 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 211 registered an increase, 107 recorded a fall and 24 remained unchanged.