The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw an optimistic session on Friday and the KSE-100 Index climbed 0.5% as investors remained hopeful of staff-level agreement between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The market climbed throughout the day but lack of positive developments capped gains.

At close on Friday, the KSE-100 Index recorded an increase of 208.33 points or 0.5% to close at 41,793.87.

KSE-100 rises 0.55% on Ishaq Dar’s comments

Trading began with a jump and the KSE-100 Index closed first session with an over 160-point gain. The index rose further in the second half.

Automobile, cement, chemical and banking sectors closed with gains while oil segment ended in the red.

Capital Stake stated in its report that carrying forward gains made in the previous session, the PSX ended the session on Friday in green.

“Indices accumulated gains all day long while volumes grew from last close,” the report said.

A report from Topline Securities stated that KSE-100 Index traded in the positive zone during the trading session to close at 41,794 level (up by 0.50%).

“This positivity in the market can be attributed to Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar stated that the staff-level agreement with the IMF would be struck in the next few days.”

On the economic front, rupee found some respite against the US dollar, appreciating Rs1.53 or 0.54% to close at 280.77.

Moreover, the inflow of overseas workers’ remittances maintained a subdued trend when compared on a yearly basis, clocking in at $2 billion in February 2023, a drop of 9.5%.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased $487 million, clocking in at $4.3 billion as of March 3.

Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE-100 index higher included banking (70.78 points), technology and communication (36.14 points) and fertiliser (36.04 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 272.7 million from 229.1 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded fell to Rs6.8 billion from Rs7.4 billion recorded in the previous session.

Fauji Foods was the volume leader with 24.4 million shares followed by Telecard Limited with 23.5 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 19.1 million shares.

Shares of 329 companies were traded on Friday, of which 222 registered an increase, 86 recorded a fall and 21 remained unchanged.