KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday staged a spectacular rally on an across-the-board value-hunting, helping the benchmark KSE 100 index partially recover the last week’s losses after some positive vibes emerged ahead of the upcoming International Monetary Fund review leading to easing investors concerns about the economic outlook.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market recovered in the earnings season rally as investors weighed IMF targets met for primary budget surplus, provincial net revenue collection and cash surplus ahead of the review talks expected next month.

He added that investor expectations about further easing monetary policy next month and the government deliberations on privatising state-owned enterprises turning investor sentiments positive.

Topline Securities Ltd said bulls made a strong comeback, driving the index to an intraday high of 1,299 points before settling at 111,377.96 — an increase of 1,055.03 points or 0.96pc day-on-day.

It noted that this surge was primarily fuelled by better-than-expected corporate earnings, which bolstered investor sentiment and renewed buying interest across key sectors.

Adding to the optimism, the Zarea IPO book-building process received a positive response, further lifting market sentiment and attracting fresh capital inflows.

The top positive contribution came from Mari Energies, Engro Holdings, Hub Power, Pakistan Petroleum, and Attock Refinery, which collectively added 448 points to the index.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the finance ministry’s confirmation regarding IMF conditions, where the country has complied with three out of five conditions for the first review, also provided confidence to the equity investors.

The market activity remained strong as the trading volume surged 38.59pc to 415.16 million shares while the traded value tumbled 53.27pc to Rs23.64bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included The Bank of Punjab (55.93m shares), WorldCall Tele­com (34.11m shares), Cn­­er­gyico PK (31.37m sha­res), Pakistan Refinery (20.60m shares) and Citi Pharma (19.89m shares).

The shares registering the most significant incre­ases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs787.49), Ghandhara Industries (Rs57.88), Attock Refi­n­ery (Rs56.86), Ghandhara Auto (Rs33.84) and Servi­­ce Industries (Rs32.82).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan (Rs44.24), Faisal Spinning (Rs36.15), Ismail Industries (Rs26.12), Al-Abbas Sugar (Rs23.64) and Supernet Techno (Rs19.81).

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025