KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on a positive note; following the government’s announcement to increase fuel prices, suggesting an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was soon to materialise, dealers said on Friday.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed higher on speculations of likely release of IMF next tranche, strong data on oil sales and an increase of 17.5 per cent in exports in October.
“[The] rupee stability, surging FX [forex] reserves and record financial results in [the] banking, fertilisers and oil sectors played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 0.16 per cent, or 76.62 points, to close at 47,295.8 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.05 per cent, or 8.34 points, to close at 18,355.54 points.
As many as 363 scrips were active, of which 180 advanced, 164 declined and 19 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 469.86 million shares, compared with the turnover of 561.9 million shares in the last trading session.
Muhammad Waqar at JS Global Capital said that with the announcement by the government to increase petroleum product prices by Rs8/litre, market preempted that nearby agreement with the IMF would materialise soon. “Going forward, [the] market will keep vigilant on news flow regarding [the] monetary policy and current account for November 2021.”
The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs64.03 to close at Rs1,500/share; and Sapphire Fiber, up Rs61.01 to close at Rs901/share.
The companies that reflected the most losses included Nestle Pakistan, down Rs125.98 to close at Rs5,870/share; and Colgate Palmolive, down Rs17.9 to close at Rs2,632/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 41.91 million shares. The scrip gained three paisas to close at Rs2.69/share; followed by Ghani Global with a turnover of 35.8 million shares. It gained 86 paisas to close at Rs35.80/share. Telecard Limited remained the third with a turnover of 24.22 million shares. It gained 43 paisas to finish at Rs18.63.