Pakistan stocks gain 139 points on contraction in trade deficit

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks on Tuesday gained 139 points on reports of contraction in trade deficit during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at to 41,350 points from previous day’s closing of 41,211 points, showing an increase of 139 points.

Analysts said that total import bill of Pakistan has fallen by 12.72 per cent in the first quarter (July – September) of the fiscal year 2022/2023.

The import bill of the country was $16.33 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared with $18.72 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Exports of the country, however, exhibited a nominal 2 per cent growth to $7.12 billion during the quarter under review as compared with $7 billion in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.

The fall in import bill resulted in trade deficit contraction of 21.42 per cent. The trade deficit of the country fell to $9.21 billion during July – September 2022 as compared with the deficit of $11.72 in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that another positive session was observed at the PSX today after the Current Account Deficit declined significantly which helped the investors to gain confidence. The market opened in the green zone and traded favorably throughout the trading session. After announcing that its parent firm is concluding arrangements for NASDAQ listing, Worldcall Telecom Limited continued to dominate the volume board as trading volumes increased on the main board.

The Index closed at 41,350.43 points, up by 138.73 points (+0.34 per cent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (+73.9.2 points), Power (+53.6 points), Cement (+47.5 points), Misc. (+28.3 points) and Fertilizer (+20.2 points).

Volumes increased from 185.4 million shares to 593.4 million shares (+220.0 per cent DoD). The average traded value also increased by 0.4 per cent to US$ 41.4 million as against US$ 41.3 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are WTL, FLYNG, KEL, GTECH and TPLP.