KARACHI: Stocks staged a rally on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index posting gains of 310.78 points (0.91 per cent) and close at 34,307.11. The investors took heart on government assertion that it had completed all the conditions for the bailout of $6 billion which is set to be approved by International Monetary Fund board on Wednesday (today).

The bullishness in the market was also underpinned by the two major macroeconomic indicators - appreciation in the value of the rupee and the lower reading of inflation figures for June at 8.89pc against the street consensus of 9.50pc.

The index also gained on positive news flow coming from the initiation of oil supply by Saudi Arabia to Pakistan on deferred payments worth $9.9 billion. Under the weight of the positives, investors ignored the increase in gas prices, electricity tariff and other painful measures in the budget that had sparked protests in the cement processors and textile industries.

Heated political atmosphere was also overlooked as participants scurried to cherry-pick oversold value stocks. The market generally remained positively inclined with the index at intraday low by 77 points and high by 344 points, the later at slightly short of the day’s closing gains.

The volume increased 90pc to 91 million shares, from 48m as banks opened after a day’s holiday on Monday. Traded value also increased by 74pc to $19.3m as against $11m. K-Electric, TRG Pakistan, Lotte Chemical, Unity Foods and Maple Leaf contributed 44pc of total volume.

Overall, cement, refinery, exploration and production and steel sectors performed well. Fertiliser, banks and pharmaceuticals also closed higher than the previous day.

Stocks that contributed positively included Fauji Fertiliser, increasing by 40 points, Habib Bank 34 points, National Bank 17 points, Lucky Cement and MCB 17 points each. Meanwhile, Nestle Pakistan fell by 24 points, Meezan Bank 6 points, Pak Suzuki 3 points, Thal Ltd 3 points and Shakarganj Ltd 2 points.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd , 2019