KARACHI: The local bourse hit a significant milestone in the outgoing week as its benchmark surpassed the 55,506-point mark.

Arif Habib Ltd said the stock market continued its bullish run in the four-day week fuelled by the first loan review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority notified a substantial increase in the prices of natural gas from November 1, a prerequisite for the ongoing IMF review.

Moreover, cut off yields for the three-, five- and 10-year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) recorded a decrease of 180 basis points, 100 basis points and 15 basis points, respectively. The drop indicates that interest rates have peaked and will come down in the near future.

Workers’ remittances also rose 10 per cent year-on-year and 12pc month-on-month to $2.46 billion. The rupee closed at 287.03 against the greenback after depreciating 0.95pc on a weekly basis.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 55,391 points after adding 2,268 points or 4.3pc week-on-week.

Sector-wise, positive contributions came from commercial banking (447 points), cement (409 points), fertiliser (362 points), power generation and distribution (345 points) and exploration and production (147 points).

Meanwhile, sectors that contributed negatively were close-end mutual funds (four points) and cable and electrical goods (two points).

Scrip-wise positive contributors were the Hub Power Company Ltd (282 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (159 points), Engro Fertilisers Ltd (151 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (122 points) and Engro Corporation (122 points).

Meanwhile, negative contributions came from Unity Foods Ltd (15 points), Abbott Laboratories Ltd (eight points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (eight points), National Refinery Ltd (six points) and HBL Growth Fund (four points).

Foreign buying clocked in at $1.3m versus a net sale of $1.4m a week ago. Major buying was witnessed in banking ($1.4m) and power ($1.2m) sectors. On the local front, selling was reported by banks ($16.3m) and individuals ($7.2m).

According to AKD Securities Ltd, the present rally is likely to continue, albeit with episodes of profit-taking. “Our stance stems from an expected positive conclusion to the IMF’s review amidst improving macro indicators and fading uncertainty over the upcoming elections, even though the country faces tough economic decisions in the near future,” it said.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023