Market participants at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) seemed to have somewhat shrugged off concerns pertaining to budgetary measures as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 200 points on Wednesday.
The bulls dominated in the first half as the index briefly crossed 73,000, before witnessing some profit-taking in the final hours.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 72,797.43, up by 207.94 points or 0.29%.
Experts believed that investors ‘over-reacted’ to rumours and unconfirmed reports, allowing a re-entry to the market after it fell into oversold territory.
Earlier, buying was witnessed in sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas marketing companies and OMCs.
Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, PSO and SHEL traded in the positive.
“The market has been under concerned amid news flow regarding budgetary measures, but they seem to have largely subsided,” Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research and Development Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Private) Limited, told Business Recorder.
Mohammed Sohail, CEO Topline Securities, said the “market over-reacted on tax rumours” regarding capital markets.
The incumbent government is all set to present its first growth-oriented federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, with an estimated outlay of over Rs18 trillion, on June 12 (Wednesday).
The budget for fiscal year 2024-25 would be presented before the National Assembly by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb.
On Tuesday, the government’s economic survey revealed that Pakistan’s economy is likely to have expanded by 2.4% in the fiscal year that ends this month, missing a target of 3.5%.
It was, however, an improvement on last year’s contraction of 0.17% and in line with the full-year projection of the State Bank of Pakistan, which cut its key interest rate by 150 basis points on Monday as it strives to boost the economy.
Globally, Asian shares were subdued on Wednesday after data showed China’s consumer prices still remained soft, while the dollar held firm ahead of a key US inflation report and Federal Reserve policy decision that would set the near-term course for interest rates.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.8%.
On Tuesday, a minor positive start after an expected policy rate cut was followed by negativity at the PSX as the benchmark index lost another 663 points to close below 73,000.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee depreciated marginally against the US dollar, falling 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.61, a decline of Re0.11 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 293.08 million from 372.54 million a session ago.
The value of shares declined to Rs10.54 billion from Rs11.65 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 28.44 million shares, followed by PIA Holding Company with 27.44 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 20.52 million shares.
Shares of 435 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 232 registered an increase, 130 recorded a fall, while 73 remained unchanged.