KARACHI: The index of representative shares on the Pakistan Stock Exchange mostly remained on the higher side on Wednesday amid expectations of a jump in foreign exchange reserves.

Topline Securities said stocks rose following news reports stating that the country would likely receive an assurance for $1 billion from the United Arab Emirates by the end of this week. In case the reports are true, the development will pave the way for the resumption of the loan programme with the International Monetary Fund.

Buying was witnessed across the board in blue-chip stocks, which supported the overall market sentiment.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,126.05 points, up 321.34 points or 0.81 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 33.8pc to 79.8 million shares. The traded value went up 88.7pc to $9m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (8.3m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (4.1m shares), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (3.7m shares), Cnergyico PK (3.6m shares) and Silkbank Ltd (2.7m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were technology and communication (95.2 points), commercial banking (81.1 points), exploration and production (77.5 points), fertiliser (33.5 points) and power generation and distribution (9.6 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs67.50), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs40), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs30), Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs26.25) and Towellers Ltd (Rs21.96).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs100), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs88.83), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs35), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs23.87) and JS Global Capital Ltd (Rs15.67).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1.53m.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2023