Stocks stay up with eyes pinned on IMF

Stocks closed higher for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as investors kept their hopes alive for the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index gained 1.87 percent or 729.25 points to close at 39,784.90 points against 39,055.65 points recorded in the last session. Intraday high was 39,946.59 points, while intraday low was 39,055.65 points.

Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd said another bullish session was taped at the PSX. “The market resumed with the same optimistic outlook as the previous closing,” it reported. Bulls remained in charge throughout the trading session, on account of recent developments in the revival of the IMF programme. The government appears to be taking “all possible measures to revive the IMF programme as it was reported that in the next ECC meeting gas tariffs will be raised, assisting in the resolution of the gas circular debt in accordance with IMF requirements,” it noted.

Volumes remained elevated across the board, with the cyclical sectors dominating the volume board.

KSE-30 index also increased by 311.74 points or 2.15 percent to close at 14,800.22 points compared with 14,488.48 points recorded in the last session.

Volumes increased by 90 million shares to 269.493 million shares from 179.760 million shares, whereas value increased to Rs10.574 billion from Rs6.368 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs6.297 trillion from Rs6.203 trillion. Out of 339 companies active in the session, 225 closed in green, 92 in red and 22 remained unchanged.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the index opened in a green zone and made an intraday high at 39,946 (+890 points; up 2.28 percent) before eventually settling at 39,785 (+729 points; up 1.87 percent) for the day.

“The aforesaid bullish sentiment is attributed to PM’s stance that the government will try to meet all the pre-requisite conditions to bring IMF on the table for the resumption of the 9th review,” he said. “Investors opted to do value hunting across the board, especially in selected stocks of fertiliser, banks and tech.”

Engro, HBL, UBL, MCB and TRG added 350 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, Systems Limited, Pakistan Services and Engro Fertilizers saw some profit-taking as they lost 26 points collectively.

The highest increase was recorded in the shares of Rafhan Maize, up Rs485.91 to close at Rs8,381.75/share, followed by Sapphire Tex., up Rs76.35 to close at Rs1,094.35/share. A significant decline was noted in the shares of Philip Morris Pak., down Rs42.72 to end at Rs527.03/share, followed by Ismail Ind, down Rs37.50 to end at Rs462.50/share.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+290.6 points), fertiliser (+106 points), E&P’s (+98.8 points), cements (+49.9 points), and technology & communication (+32.0 points).

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 20.618 million shares with an increase of 5 paisas to Rs1.19/share. It was followed by TPL Properties with 14.463 million shares. Its scrip closed up 66 paisas to stand at Rs15.99/share.

Other stocks that recorded significant turnover included Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Srui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, TRG, Fauji Cement, Cnergyico PK, Meezan Bank, Pioneer Cement and Pakistan Refinery Limited.

Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 211.223 million shares from 172.051 million shares.