KARACHI: Stocks closed bullish amid stronger financial results in oil and banking sector and an assurance from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that a staff-level agreement with International Monetary Fund is likely next week.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said the finance minister’s assurance on surging foreign exchange reserves and improving economic indicators and speculations on likely restructuring of foreign debt and easing circular debt crises also played a catalyst role in the bullish close.

Ali Najib of Topline Securities said equities had a positive day, with the stock market witnessed buying in blue chips.

As a result, the benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 40,670.88 points, up 258.11 points or 0.64pc per cent from the preceding session.

During the trading hours, the rupee lost 6.66 per cent against the dollar to close the day at 285.09 versus 266.11 a day ago in interbank trading.

During the day, exploration and production, fertiliser, banks and power sectors contributed positively to the index, where Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Engro Fertilizers, United Bank Ltd, Engro Corporation and Hub Power Company added 260 points, cumulatively.

On the flip side, TRG Pakistan Ltd, Lucky Cement Ltd and Pakistan Services Ltd witnessed some profit taking as they lost 89 points collectively, today.

Over 152 million shares were traded during Thursday’s trading session while the total value clocked in at Rs8.1 billion. Worldcall Telecom Ltd led the volumes chart with trading of 12.6m shares.

On Thursday, the State Bank of Pakistan increased the policy rate by 300bps to 20pc. The discount rate has reached 21pc, highest since the start of this policy in early 1990s.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2023