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KARACHI: The stock market on Friday staged a spectacular rally, ending the three-session downturn, as the arrival of a high-level Saudi trade delegation and the government’s plan to boost development spending boosted investor sentiments.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market witnessed an across-the-board buying interest as a sharp deceleration in CPI-based inflation to 17.3 per cent, the lowest in almost two years, revived hopes for a cut in the State Bank of Pakistan’s policy rate.
The government has hinted at increasing the Public Sector Development Programme by more than a quarter to Rs1.2 trillion for FY25.
He said the rupee recovery, deliberations over the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, and the IMF’s positive vibes regarding the new loan negotiations contributed to the market’s rebound.
Topline Securities Ltd attributed the positivity to the upcoming visit of the 50-member Saudi business delegation for investment talks on Sunday.
Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Hub Power Company, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd, Bank Al-Habib, and Dawood Hercules made major positive contributions to the index, adding 569 points.
As a result, the index hit an intraday high of 71,986.43 and a low of 70,562.72. However, it closed at 71,902.09 points after rallying 1,244.45 points, or 1.76pc, from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume rose slightly by 3.46pc to 452.15 million shares. The traded value, however, surged by 28.99pc to Rs24.54bn on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Petroleum (26.65m shares), Hascol Petroleum (26.57m shares), Fauji Cement (19.30m shares), Pak Elektron (16.26m shares) and K-Electric (16.17m shares).
The companies registering the major increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods (Rs240.83), Nestle Pakistan (Rs100.11), Mari Petroleum (Rs77.43), Hoechst Pakistan (Rs70.00) and Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (Rs48.10).
The shares registering the most significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hallmark Company (Rs68.03), Shahmurad Sugar(Rs24.61), Blessed Textiles (Rs16.76), Thal Ltd (Rs9.03) and Archroma Pakistan (Rs8.07).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1.87m.
Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024
