KARACHI: Stocks managed to partially recover overnight losses on Tuesday with the KSE-100 gaining 231.90 points (0.58 per cent) to close at 40,548.83 points.

Market benefited from investors’ ease of concerns over the economy following the floating of timeline by the government for road shows for issuance of sukuk and eurobonds to raise $3.5bn.

The news was sweetened by Standard & Poor’s credit rating upgrade to “B” for Pakistan’s proposed foreign debt issuance, marking an improvement over the rating of “B-” for previous issues.

Some profit-taking was seen mid-day on news that an accountability court rejected the finance minister’s request seeking exemption from court appearances and declared him an absconder. After hitting the intraday low by 45 points, the index bounced back as investors discounted the negative news and fixed their gaze on cheaper valuations. Analysts at Intermarket Securities worked out that the index was currently trading 2.7pc above its 52-week low of 39,478 points reached on Oct 13 and 24pc below its 52-week high of 53,127 points on May 25.

Top index point performers were MCB up 2.3pc, OGDC 1.7pc, PPL 1.1pc, PAKT 5pc and SNGP 2.6pc, contributing 126 points, while PSO was down 1.6pc, Kot Addu Power 0.5pc, Nishat Chunian 5pc, Nishat Power 5pc and Dawood Hercules 0.8pc, eroding 40 points.

Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the banking sector as HBL gained 0.55pc and UBL 0.66pc, while Faysal Bank lost 0.66pc and SilkBank 1.47pc.

The volume continued to be depressed with marginal 8pc increase over the earlier day at 102m shares. Third-tier stocks -- Unity Foods, TRG, Pak Elektron, Dewan Motors and Doost Steel -- together contributed 33pc to the total turnover. The traded value rose 20pc from the previous day to Rs5.22 billion.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2017