KARACHI: Share prices rose on Tuesday on the back of the status quo announced in the monetary policy announcement a day ago.

Topline Securities Ltd said the State Bank of Pakistan kept the key interest rate unchanged in view of a projected easing in the Consumer Price Index October onwards — a trend that’s likely to continue into the second half of 2023-24.

In addition, the federal government’s approval of a gas price hike for different categories of consumers also played a role in the bullish close.

The benchmark index of the stock market gained as much as 12.3 per cent on a month-on-month basis in October to hit a “nearly all-time high.” However, Topline Securities Ltd CEO Mohammed Sohail said stock valuations are down to one-third of the index’s peak last seen in May 2017. The price-to-earnings multiple, which measures a company’s share value relative to its per-share earnings, was 12 in May 2017 when the index was around 52,800 points. The multiple is down to only four now when the benchmark is hovering about 52,000 points, he said.

The KSE-100 index closed at 51,920.27 points after gaining 437.34 points or 0.85pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 58.8pc to 455.3 million shares. The traded value increased 36.6pc to Rs15.6bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (71.2m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (51.5m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (22.6m shares), Power Cement Ltd (20.8m shares) and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim Ltd (17.8m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs170), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs36), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs31), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs26) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (Rs25.36).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.49m.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2023