Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish for the second straight day amid hopes for the revival of stalledInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 331.59 points (+0.80 percent) to close at 41,671.65 points on Tuesday.
The IMF remains in touch with Pakistan’s authorities in order to pave the way for a board meeting before the financing programme expires at the end of June, the IMF mission chief for Pakistan said. “This engagement will focus on the restoration of foreign exchange proper market functioning, the passage of a FY24 budget consistent with programme goals, and adequate financing,” Nathan Porter added.
Moreover, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s comments about a business-friendly budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 and investors’ expectations of bonus shares’ announcement by big companies in the upcoming financial results kept the momentum high at the bourse.
The market opened on a sharp positive note and remained in the green throughout the session. The benchmark index has gained over 700 points during the last two sessions, as it gained over 375 points in the previous session.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 331.4 points, showing an intraday high of 41,693.46 points and a low of 41,362.06 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 257.83 points (+0.92 percent) to close at 27,907.95 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 252.24 points (+1.24 percent) to close at 20,289.93 points.
The overall market volumes decreased by 148.67 million to 197.68 million shares against 346.35 million shares a session earlier. The reason behind drop in volumes was that 193.9 million shares of a small-cap stock WTL were traded a session earlier.— TLTP