KARACHI: Stocks closed bullish on Friday as investors reacted positively to the increase in the prices of petroleum products, which has paved the way for the release of a $900 million loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation, the completion of the seventh review for the IMF loan programme, target-setting for 2022-23, discussions over the federal budget due next month and surging global equities played the role of a catalyst in the bullish close.

The benchmark reached an intraday high of 1,013 points, but lost some ground later as investors resorted to profit-taking, said Topline Securities.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,861.45 points, up 319.74 points or 0.75 per cent from a day ago.

The trading volume increased 52pc to 527.67 million shares while the traded value went up 54.5pc to Rs13.97 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (64m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (55.63m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (21.5m shares), Hum Network Ltd (21.35m shares) and Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (19.58m shares).

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included fertiliser (44.1 points), oil and gas exploration (43.02 points), commercial banking (40.51 points), chemical (37.63 points) and cement (35.44 points).

Shares contributing most positively to the index included Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (31.15 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (29.69 points), Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (24.64 points), Millat Tractors Ltd (20.64 points) and Systems Ltd (19.67 points).

Stocks that contributed most negatively to the index included Engro Corporation Ltd (11 points), National Bank of Pakistan Ltd (9.22 points), Pakistan Tele­communication Company Ltd (6.7 points), Unity Foods Ltd (6.49 points) and IGI Holdings Ltd (4.31 points).

Stocks that registered the largest increases in percentage terms were Gadoon Textile Mills Ltd (6.64pc), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (5.75pc), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (5.08pc), Shell Pakistan Ltd (4.37pc) and K-Electric Ltd (3.88pc).

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2022