KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to maintain its recovery drive for the second day in a row as market sentiments remained positive with support from encouraging news from the macroeconomic front. In addition to this, the release of funds by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and positive gesture from other global institutions also helped in the positive trend.
Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) gained 96.82 points (0.22%) to 44,587.85 points against the previous closing of 44,491.03 points. The market went as high as 45,130.38 points during intra-day trading, while recorded as low as 44,480.82 points.
Trading volume increased to 443.9 million shares today as compared to 339.1 million traded in the previous session, according to PSX website data. The daily traded value improved to Rs 25.9 billion from Rs 20.76 billion in the previous session.
On back of recovery mood started yesterday the benchmark KSE-100 index opened the day positively and managed to breach 45,000 points mark to reach 45,133 points with addition of 642 points by 11 am. However, some profit taking by investors was seen in the mid-day that pushed the Index back below 45,000 levels. The discounted prices after previous corrections help the market to close the day in positive.
Traders and analysts said that news regarding the release of funds by IMF, assurance of support by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank supported market sentiments. While the proactive measures by the government against the third wave of COVID-19 infection also seems to be a confidence builder, they added.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday night received around $498.7m from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a loan tranche under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for budget support.
The country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $20.435bn as of March 19, 2021 and with the arrival of these inflows the total foreign exchange reserves are likely to cross $21bn mark.
The share price of Service Industries Limited increased by Rs78.18 to Rs1,120.68 while Philip Morris Pakistan gained Rs70.50 to Rs1,038. On the other hand, Colgate Palmolive lost Rs137 today to close at Rs2,700 while Sapphire Textile lost Rs16.95 to close at Rs820.05.
