KARACHI: Continuing their positive trend from the last week, stocks closed slightly higher on Monday amid better economic indicators and hopes for approval of the extended fund facility (EFF) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 share index closed higher by 158.08 points or 0.2 per cent to 79,491.14 points against 79,333.06 points recorded in the last session.
The highest index of the day remained at 79,993.18 points while the lowest level was recorded at 79,368.18 points.Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said, “Stocks closed higher amid upbeat economic outlook courtesy rising exports, surging remittances.”
He said that the likely approval of the IMF executive board for a new $7 billion IMF extended fund facility (EFF) on September 25; a strong rupee; and falling leverage cost played a catalyst role in the bullish close.
The KSE-30 index increased by 41.52 points or 0.17 per cent to 25,068.60 points against 25,027.08 points.Traded shares dropped by 380 million shares to 536.187 million shares from 916.053 million shares. The trading value decreased to Rs8.911 billion from Rs21.236 billion.
Market capital narrowed to Rs10.533 trillion against Rs10.542 trillion. Of the 443 companies active in the session, 139 closed in green, 253 in red and 51 remained unchanged.Ali Najib, an analyst at Topline Securities, said that continuing its last week’s trend, equities commenced the day on a positive note.
Initially, the KSE-100 index witnessed bullish sentiment but in the later half market saw some profit-taking and made an intraday low at 79,368 levels before calling the day at 79,491 levels (plus 158 points; up 0.2 per cent).
During the day, MEBL, DGKC, UBL, Engro and OGDC contributed negatively by losing 126 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, MARI, HUBC and EFERT saw some buying interest as they added 373 points.
The highest increase was recorded in Hoechst Pakistan Limited, which rose by Rs128.60 to Rs2,079.60 per share, followed by Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Limited, which increased by Rs53.86 to Rs592.43 per share. A significant decline was noted in Sapphire Textile Mills Limited, which fell by Rs58.71 to Rs1,090.89 per share. Khyber Textile Mills Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs47.76 to Rs484.85 per share.
Analyst Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Research said the KSE-100 remained positive. Investor enthusiasm was buoyed by the finance minister’s confident statement regarding an anticipated approval from the IMF executive board for a new $7 billion EFF this month.
“Looking ahead, a buy-on-dips strategy may be prudent, particularly focusing on the banking, exploration and production (E&P), and technology sectors,” he said. Pace (Pak) Ltd remained the volume leader with 56.89 million shares which closed lower by 40 paisas to Rs6.96 per share. Cnergyico PK followed it with 48.93 million shares, which closed higher by 10 paisas to Rs4.16 per share.Other significant turnover stocks included WorldCall Telecom, Ist Capital Sec, K-Electric Ltd, Kohinoor Spinning, Media Times Ltd, F Nat Equities, Pervez Ahmed Co and Hascol Petrol.In the futures market, 318 companies recorded trading, of which 71 increased, 243 decreased and 4 remained unchanged.