KSE-100 gains over 250 points as investors weigh rupee’s recovery

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a positive session on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed higher by over 250 points on the back of rupee’s recovery against the US dollar.

The KSE-100 started negative, hitting an intra-day low of 45,728.89. However, a late-session buying spree was observed, which helped the index close in green.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 46,013.49, up by 256.25 points or 0.56%.

“The equity market was positive today [Friday] on the back of appreciation of the PKR against the greenback both in the interbank and the open market,” brokerage house Ismail Securities stated in its market report.

On Thursday, the PSX had witnessed a range-bound session, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed slightly lower by 50 points.

During the week, the index gained 1.55% on the back of a recent resolve shown by Army Chief to improve business sentiment, brokerage house Topline Securities stated.

“Following this over the week, gap between interbank and open narrowed, as speculators rushed to sell their holding in foreign currency. Investor confidence further improved from follow up statement by the caretaker prime minster where he presided over meetings to increase tax collection and stated government’s resolve to start off the privatisation process,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee continued its merry run against the US dollar, appreciating for the third consecutive session to settle at 302.95 in the inter-bank market on Friday.

In the open market also, the rupee maintained its positive run against the dollar as gap with the inter-bank rate narrowed further, a key benchmark of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 149.57 million from 177.06 million on Thursday.

The value of shares declined to Rs5.551 billion from Rs7.582 billion in the previous session.

TPL Properties remained the volume leader with 12 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 11.04 million shares and Bank Al-Falah with 9.272 million shares.

Shares of 312 companies were traded on Friday, of which 166 registered an increase, 115 recorded a fall, and 31 remained unchanged.