Bulls stage comeback at PSX on Miftah’s cues

• At close, KSE-100 index closes at 42,525.95 points.
• The index traded between hope and despair on IMF programme.
• Shares of 341 companies were traded during the session. 

KARACHI: The bulls staged a comeback at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday cheering the finance minister’s assurance the much-awaited International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme will be revived within two days.

Constant assurance from the top leadership that the stalled $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme will be revived this week strengthened investors’ sentiment as players cherry-picked stocks that lost valuation during the last bearish spell.

The benchmark KSE-100 index traded between hope and despair, which eventually let loose the bulls, who pulled the bourse into the green.

Investors kept a close watch on economic news after the Pakistan rupee continued to break records by dropping to an all-time low of 211.48 against the US dollar in the interbank market.

The KSE-100 index gained since the morning bell rang, but some dips were seen at regular intervals. The uptrend turned steeper at midday as the index once again breached the 42,000-point mark.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 42,525.95 points after surging 748.97 points or 1.79%.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the bulls triumphed in the trading session at PSX today. “The benchmark KSE-100 index remained in the green zone throughout the day as value buying was witnessed across the board,” the brokerage house noted.

“The investors gained confidence in expectation of resumption of the IMF programme. Volumes remained healthy in the main board,” it stated.

Sectors contributing to the performance included technology (+136.6 points), exploration and production (+95.2 points), cement (+85.9 points), banks (+76.3 points) and fertiliser (+72.2 points).

Shares of 341 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 268 scrips closed in the green, 49 in the red, and 24 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes rose to 300.59 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 162.11 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.47 billion.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 23.68 million shares traded, gaining Rs1.48 to close at Rs21.23. It was followed by Pakistan Refinery with 20.65 million shares traded, gaining Rs1.16 to close at Rs18.85 and Cnergy Limited with 17.86 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.35 to close at Rs5.66.