KARACHI: Bulls ruled the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday as The KSE-100 Index shot up nearly 750 points at the conclusion of the trading session amid reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal is likely to be announced in a matter of days.
The KSE-100 initially opened on a positive note, but profit-taking soon kicked in, pushing the index to an intraday low of 41,745, down by 32 points.
” Reports regarding IMF deal to be concluded tonight triggered value hunting across the board and eventually supported the benchmark index,” said Topline Securities in its post-market comment.
By the end of the day, the index settled at 42,525.95, a gain of 748.97 points or 1.79%.
The index has been under pressure for weeks now as investors keenly await the revival of the IMF program that was put on hold with the change in government.
“The improvement in sentiment comes after the finance minister in a cabinet meeting said that the IMF deal would be announced soon,” said Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities Limited.
The market analyst informed that across-the-board buying was being witnessed at the bourse.
Sectors driving the benchmark index upward included technology and communication (136.69 points), oil and gas exploration (95.20 points), and cement (85.58 points).
Volume on the all-share index increased significantly to 300.6 million from 162.1 million. The value of shares traded also improved markedly to Rs9.47 billion from Rs4.91 billion recorded in the previous session.
TPL Properties was the volume leader with 23.69 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 20.65 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 17.87 million shares.
Shares of 341 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 268 registered an increase, 49 recorded a fall, and 24 remained unchanged.
