After witnessing a positive trend in the initial hours of trading, profit-taking erased gains at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing 248 points lower on Thursday.
However, both the volume and value of shares traded improved from the previous session.
The index witnessed a mixed trend throughout the day oscillating between an intraday high of 45,971 and a low of 45,255.58.
During the initial hours of trading, the market witnessed a bullish run as investors rejoiced over multiple positive developments on the economic front.
Market experts said the approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board on the Stand-By Arrangement and the deposit of funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE drove the positive sentiment witnessed during the first half of the session.
However, profit-taking kicked in during the closing hours, and the benchmark index settled at 45,266.96, a decrease of 247.99 points or 0.54%.
KSE-100 up over 350 points as bullish wave continues
The IMF’s Executive Board on Wednesday approved a nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan for an amount of $3 billion. The Board’s approval allows for immediate disbursement of SDR894 million (or about US$1.2 billion).
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received $1.2 billion from the Washington-based lender on Thursday.
Moreover, earlier during the week, Pakistan also received deposits of $2 billion and $1 billion from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, respectively, a development that gives a massive boost to the country’s low level of foreign exchange reserves.
On the economic front, the Pakistani rupee inched up against the US dollar, appreciating 0.37% to settle at 276.46 in the inter-bank market on Thursday.
Sectors driving the benchmark index lower included banking (100.38 points), technology and communication (66.62 points) and fertilizer (32.33 points).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 489.2 million from 450.3 million on Wednesday, while the value of shares traded inched up to Rs14.5 billion from Rs13.1 billion recorded in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 55.5 million shares followed by TPL Properties with 42.2 million shares and K-Electric Limited with 30.4 million shares.
Shares of 362 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 142 registered an increase, 191 recorded a fall and 29 remained unchanged.