KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rallied on Wednesday because of the decision by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to increase the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 9.75 per cent.

According to Topline Securities, the extent of monetary tightening was lower than the street expectation as many investors anticipated a rate hike of 150 basis points. “Moreover, the SBP’s forward guidance provided some sigh of relief for the equity market investors,” it said while highlighting the central bank governor’s statement that it was about to achieve the target of “mildly positive interest rates”.

As a result, the KSE-100 index added 1,120.15 points or 2.59pc to close at 44,366.86 points.

Market participation increased 87.5pc to 398.1 million shares while the value of traded shares also went up 72.1pc to $65.5m.

Sectors contributing the highest number of points to the benchmark index included cement (263.48 points), technology and communication (195.89 points), oil and gas exploration (109.93 points), oil and gas marketing (73.81 points) and chemical (62.02 points).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (53.26m shares), Byco Petroleum Ltd (34.6m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (19.77m shares), Hum Network Ltd (14.56m shares) and Fauji Foods Ltd (13.86m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index were Lucky Cement Ltd (124.44 points), Systems Ltd (91.48 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (81.1 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (60.33 points) and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (50.45 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Bank AL Habib Ltd (30.24 points), The Hub Power Company Ltd (8 points), Habib Bank Ltd (7.81 points), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (4.52 points) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (3.49 points).

Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms included Yousaf Weaving Mills Ltd, which went up 12.78pc, followed by Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (12.69pc), Azgard Nine Ltd (8.94pc), K-Electric Ltd (7.62pc) and Pioneer Cement Ltd (7.5pc).

Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.23m on a net basis.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2021