KARACHI: The stocks gained 169 points on Friday owing to injection of liquidity by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) via Open Market Operation (OMO) for 63 days at 9.9 per cent, a signal of stability
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 43,901 points as against previous day’s closing of 43,731 points, showing an increase of 169 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index closed in the green zone as the market celebrated SBP injection of liquidity via OMO for 63 days at 9.9 per cent, a signal of stability.
Market stayed volatile in the first hour of opening due to declining foreign exchange reserves and FTSE rebalancing, expectation of foreign selling spree. Soon after OMO injection news clocked in, a bullish trend was observed mainly in the cement and steel sector.
Main board activity remained gloomy. On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.
Moving forward, economic numbers like CPI, CAD, FX reserves along with timing of IMF program resumption will play a vital role in shaping the direction of the market.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cements (+70 points), Commercial Banks (+60 points), E&P (+35 points) and Technology & Communication (+28 points).
Volumes decreased from 312.1 million shares to 252.2 million shares (-19.2 per cent DoD). Traded value also decreased by 20.4 per cent to reach US$ 45.2 million as against US$ 56.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, HUMNL, TELE, TRG and BYCO.
