Stocks stay bullish on major relief package

KARACHI: Pakistan’s stocks gained 343 points on Tuesday owing to major relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan a day earlier.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan closed at 44,804 points as against previous day’s closing of 44,461 points, showing an increase of 343 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market stayed in the bullish zone throughout the day due to relief package worth 0.54 per cent of the GDP announced by the prime minister.

The relief package for the masses to curb the impact of inflation and enhance support to the most vulnerable class of the society for the next four months till budget.

Moreover, headline inflation for month of February 2022 clocked-in at 12.24 per cent YoY compared to 8.70 per cent in February 2021 and 12.96 per cent in January 2022, respectively.

The YoY uptick in consumer price index (CPI) was led by Food (14.73 per cent YoY), Transport (25.04 per cent YoY), Housing (8.99 per cent YoY), Clothing & Footwear (9.67 per cent YoY), Miscellaneous (10.07 per cent YoY), Restaurants (14.39 per cent YoY), House Hold Equipment (13.44 per cent YoY), Health (10.11 per cent YoY) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (2.13 per cent YoY).

On a MoM basis, CPI reading increased by 1.15 per cent. While Food and Transport index kept MoM inflation up, housing index declined by 1.56 per cent MoM mainly due to decrease in electricity charges.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+145.8 points), Technology (+100.6 points), Chemicals (+34.7 points), Power (+20.6 points) and Banks (+16.1 points).

Volumes increased from 208.1 million shares to 309.3 million shares (+48.6 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 72.3 per cent to reach US$ 58.9 million as against US$ 34.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TRG, TELE, TPLP and TPL.