Oil/gas sector in limelight as KSE-100 gains nearly 800 points

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw interest in the oil and gas sector as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained nearly 800 points during trading on Tuesday.

Bullish momentum persisted throughout the trading session as the benchmark index settled at 63,799.01, an increase of 796.10 points or 1.26%.

Index-heavy stocks including OGDC and PPL were trading in the positive amid reported developments on the government’s circular debt plan.

Business Recorder reported that the caretaker government’s team on Monday formally interacted with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through a video call to seek the latter’s support for tariff rationalization and circular debt reduction plans.

During the previous week, the PSX remained under selling pressure with low trading activity as investors remained cautious and avoided taking fresh positions on their concerns over political noise in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 810.14 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 63,002.92 points.

Experts said Tuesday’s buying interest comes on account of developments in the energy sector.

Globally, Asian shares edged up on Tuesday thanks to a bounce in battered Chinese markets, although investors were cautious after a slide on Wall Street amid diminishing expectations of a near-term Federal Reserve rate cut, which in turn underpinned the dollar.

Oil prices held largely steady as traders took stock of a visit to the Middle East by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss a ceasefire offer in the region.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, after a 0.7% decline from the previous session.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely unchanged against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local unit settled at 279.42 after a fall of Re0.01 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 331 million from 263.5 million a session before.

The value of shares rose to Rs15.2 billion from Rs10.7 billion in the previous session.

P.I.A.C.(A) was the volume leader with 47.6 million shares, followed by Oil & Gas Dev with 23 million shares, and Cnergyico PK at 21.2 million shares.

Shares of 336 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 230 registered an increase, 79 recorded a fall, while 27 remained unchanged.