KARACHI: Amid growing political optimism for the smooth formation of a new coalition government after the election of the NA speaker and deceleration in CPI-based inflation kept investors in a buoyant mood as a result the benchmark KSE 100-share continued its barrier-breaking spree settling above the 65,000 level on Friday.

The index remained in the positive territory for most of the session but the trading volume shrank further over the previous day.

The inflation slowed to 23.6pc in February from 28.34pc in January also revived market expectations of a cut in interest rate in the upcoming monetary policy review.

Topline Securities Ltd said the election of PMLN’s Ayaz Sadiq as speaker of the National Assembly improved investor sentiment suggesting that the new government has the desired numbers if there is support from all coalition parties to take tough and unpopular decisions to put the economy on the right track.

The continuous buying by foreign corporates and mutual funds during the outgoing week also reflected the restoration of foreigners’ confidence in the economy as the International Monetary Fund has already announced to work with the new government to ensure macroeconomic stability in Pakistan.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 65,325.68 points after gaining 747.16 points or 1.16 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume dipped 18.82pc to 344.22 million shares. The traded value also fell 21.50pc to Rs13.38bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (71.35m shares), K-Electric (19.42m shares), Treet Corporation (17.47m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (12.46m shares) and Cnergyico (9.60m shares).

Shares registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Company Ltd (Rs450.00), Mari Petroleum Ltd (Rs113.50), Nestle Pakis­tan (Rs90.00), Philip Mor­ris (Rs52.00) and Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs47.20).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs26.32), Mehmood Texti­le (Rs17.72), Bata Pakistan (Rs17.00), Al-Ghazi Tractor Ltd (Rs14.24) and Abbott Laboratories Pakistan Ltd (Rs11.24).

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they picked shares worth $0.85m.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024