Pakistan stocks gain 449 points on central banks governor’s statement

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks gained 449 points on Wednesday following the governor of the central bank hoped dollar inflow would start next week.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended 38,791 points from last day’s closing of 38,342 points, showing a gain of 449 points.

SBP governor Jameel Ahmad in a meeting with business community stated that the country would start receiving US dollar inflows from next week, which would help shore up the central bank’s rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that after two gloomy sessions, the Bulls returned to the PSX.

The market opened in the green and has remained in that range as investors choose to cherry picking selective equities at appealing levels in search of value to add to their portfolios.

Following the governor of the SBP’s much-needed clarification on the LCs issue, investor involvement grew dramatically resulting in the index making an intraday high of 603.76 points. Mainboard volumes remained healthy.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (+165.4 points), Fertilizer (+100.3 points), E&P’s (+84.1 points), Power Generation & Distribution (+44.9 points), and Commercial Banks (+38.6 points).

Volumes decreased from 205.9 million shares to 153.1 million shares (-25.7 per cent DoD). The average traded value also decreased by 25.4 per cent to USD 21.9 million as against USD 29.3 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are WTL, KEL, TRG, HASCOL and PPL.