KARACHI: Bulls led the charge on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, thanks to the optimism shown by investors about the ongoing negotiations between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Arif Habib Ltd said the level of investors’ involvement remained adequate owing to the potential outcome of the IMF talks.

“We recommend investors should avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in cement, banking and exploration and production sectors,” said JS Global Ltd.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,673.06 points, up 801.79 points or 2.01 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 9.2pc to 153.3 million shares. The traded value went up 37.2pc to $27.8m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (13.4m shares), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (10.2m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (7.7m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (6.5m shares) and Fauji Cement Company Ltd (4.7m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were fertiliser (166 points), commercial banking (122.4 points), exploration and production (106 points), cement (82.9 points) and miscellaneous (79.2 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Servi­ces Ltd (Rs155), Col­gate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs139.91), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs115), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs49.55) and Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs43.83).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs674), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs26.75), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs17.22), Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs11.28) and Pakistan Paper Products Ltd (Rs4.41).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.36m.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2023