KARACHI: Pakistani shares witnessed another bullish day on the stock exchange as the benchmark index of major listed companies stayed in the positive range throughout trading hours on Wednesday.

Topline Securities Ltd said the extended momentum can be attributed to crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that are scheduled to begin on today (Thursday) under the $3bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). A positive outcome of the review will lead to the release of a $710 million loan tranche.

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Arif Habib Ltd said the march to new highs continued as October inflation fell following a sharp decrease in fuel prices and a crackdown on currency hoarders bore fruit.

Headline inflation eased to 26.9pc year-on-year in October versus 31.4pc a month ago.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 52,342.64 points after gaining 422.37 points or 0.81pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 15.6pc to 526.4 million shares. The traded value increased 5.6pc to Rs16.5bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (75.7m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (68.3m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (55m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (18.77m shares) and Pak Elektron Ltd (16.4m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs525), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs69.50), Service Industries Ltd (Rs29.38), Colgate-Palmolive Pakis­tan Ltd (Rs27.87) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (Rs27.55).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs219.90), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs27.55), Pakistan Serv­ices Ltd (Rs27), Blessed Textiles Ltd (Rs26.39) and Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs12.81).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.41m.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2023