KARACHI: Stocks continued their bull run on Wednesday as investors remained upbeat about the forthcoming announcement by the International Monetary Fund, said Arif Habib Ltd in a research note.

The IMF’s executive board will undertake the sixth review of the $6 billion loan programme for Pakistan in its meeting scheduled for Feb 2. The stock market opened on a positive note and stayed in the green zone throughout the day.

As a result, the KSE-100 index added 444.65 points or 0.97 per cent to close at 46,119.15 points.

Market participation increased 15.5pc to 360.8 million shares while the value of traded shares went up 15.3pc to $62m.

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included commercial banking (105.59 points), oil and gas exploration (80.67 points), cement (62.96 points), textile (35.11 points) and oil and gas marketing (25.26 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hum Network Ltd (48.78m shares), TeleCard Ltd (28.28m shares), Treet Corporation Ltd (26.31m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (21.55m shares) and Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (18.59m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Habib Bank Ltd (53.88 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (28.14 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (24.2 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (22.99 points) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (20.63 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Bank Alfalah Ltd (8.9 points), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (4.26 points), Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (3.32 points), Indus Motor Company Ltd (1.63 points) and Engro Fertilisers Ltd (1.02 points).

Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms included Pak Elektron Ltd, which went up 7.19pc, followed by Bannu Wollen Mills Ltd (6.33pc), Nishat Mills Ltd (6.08pc), Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (3.31pc) and Pioneer Cement Ltd (3.21pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.71m.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022