KARACHI: Stock trading began on a positive note in the outgoing week as the government announced that the United Arab Emirates gave its commitment for a loan of $1 billion.

Arif Habib Ltd said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) still sought necessary financial assurances from other multilateral organisations before the revival of the $7bn loan programme.

Citing news articles, the brokerage said Pakistan shared its revised plan to bridge the financing gap of $6bn to restart the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility.

Additionally, Pakistan posted a current account surplus of $654 million in March against a deficit of $36m in February. The current account recorded its first monthly surplus since November 2020. The rupee appreciated against the dollar by 0.33 per cent week-on-week and closed at 283.5.

As a result, the benchmark index of the stock market closed at 41,008 points after gaining 802 points or 2pc from a week ago. Sector-wise, positive contributions came from fertiliser (442 points), commercial banking (235 points), power generation and distribution (76 points), oil and gas exploration (55 points) and tobacco (31 points).

Sectors that contributed negatively were technology and communication (99 points), miscellaneous (33 points) and insurance (21 points).

“Going forward, the market is expected to remain range-bound amid delays on the staff-level agreement with the IMF and overall political uncertainty. Any positive development on the IMF front and a move towards political stability will dictate the market’s performance in the near term,” said AKD Securities in a note.

It advised investors to take a cautious approach by adopting a defensive investment strategy going forward.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2023