Pakistan stocks extended gains for a 9th consecutive session on Tuesday, as upbeat economic indicators continued to spread positive sentiment in the market.
At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark index KSE-100 settled with an increase of 195.91 points or 0.41% to finish at 48,230.51.
This comes a day after the benchmark index crossed 48,000 points following a gap of nearly two years as oil/gas along with banking sectors led the charge.
On Tuesday, the index hit an intra-day high of 48,441.84 before retreating to the negative zone. However, buying interest was soon revived, carrying the KSE-100 back to the 48,400-point level.
“Indices accumulated gains all day long after facing slight resistance during the first hour of trade. Investor participation continued to remain high,” said brokerage house Capital Stake in its post-market comment.
Sectors leading the rally included fertiliser (59.71 pts), cement (46.78 pts), and textile composite (30.50 pts).
Arif Habib Limited (AHL) attributed the status quo in the interest rates for the strong open on Tuesday, but added that market breadth was narrower - with several recent leaders closing lower including SHEL PA (-5.02%), PPL PA (-1.79%), and OGDC PA (-0.63%).
Autos and steel names outperformed on Tuesday, according to AHL.
“Market is heavy here and needs to consolidate before the upside can resume towards the weekly draw on liquidity at 49k,” it said.
On the economic front, Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation witnessed a marginal decline, clocking in at 28.3% on year-on-year basis in July 2023 compared to an increase of 29.4% in the previous month and 24.9% in July 2022. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 3.5% in July, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Pakistani rupee registered a marginal decline against the US dollar as it depreciated 0.31% on Tuesday to settle at 287.54 a dollar, against 286.64 in the last session.
Additionally, a move that could potentially affect inflation readings in the coming months, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced nearly a 8% increase in fuel prices with petrol hitting Rs272.95 per litre, while the revised price of high-speed diesel – used primarily in the transport sector – reached Rs273.4 per litre.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 556.9 million from 491.8 million on Monday. The value of shares traded decreased to Rs15.94 billion from Rs17.88 billion in the previous session.
Telecard Limited was the volume leader with 39.6 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 37.8 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 33.2 million shares.
Shares of 357 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 223 registered an increase, 107 recorded a fall, and 27 remained unchanged.