KARACHI: Political stability and strong corporate results continued driving bullish sentiments on the stock market as a result the KSE-100 index extended its overnight gains to settle above the 63,000-point level on Monday.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the easing of political noise as was reflected in the smooth election of Punjab and Sindh chief ministers ended the uncertainty to a greater extent bringing about clarity on the formation of federal government in due course of time and bolstering investor confidence.

He said the reports that the government was making efforts to secure up to $8 billion in a new IMF bailout package under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and climate financing also played a catalyst role in the market’s robust performance.

However, the market came under mid-session selling pressure on concerns about the political outcome of the national assembly session convening delays by President Arif Alvi.

Topline Securities Ltd said the index remained in the green zone from the beginning of trading thanks to a smooth progression towards government formation at provincial levels.

Following the general elections, it said, the establishment of governments at the national and provincial levels is underway. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is gearing up to conduct the presidential election on March 9.

After staging an intraday rally of 916.68 points to 63,732.50, the market witnessed a profit-taking spree towards the final hours of trading. As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 63,305.93 points after a trimmed gain of 490.11 points or 0.78 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased by 19.81pc to 452.81 million shares. The traded value also rose by 2.99pc to Rs16.49bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric (54.06m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (53.37m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (22.97m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (20.54m shares) and Cnergiyco PK Ltd (18.52m shares).

Shares registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs35.00), Sazgar Engin­eering Ltd (Rs24.61), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs24.37), Attock Petroleum Ltd (Rs16.14) and Hoechst Pakistan (Rs12.40).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pak­istan Foods Ltd (Rs654.17), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs330.11), Pakistan Serv­ices Ltd (Rs49.90), Atlas Batt­ery Ltd (Rs20.84) and Faisal Spin­ning Mills Ltd (Rs15.00).

Foreign investors continued picking shares as their net buying stood at $1.76m.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2024