KARACHI: The bulls dominated trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday as the benchmark KSE-100 index breached the 43,000 point mark, owing to optimism over the start of talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Successful negotiations between the two sides will provide much-needed relief to the cash strapped economy of Pakistan and support the country’s macroeconomic indicators.
The day kicked off with a slide but robust investor sentiments assisted the index in erasing losses and pushed the market to an intra-day high of 435 points. Buoyed by negativity over persistent rupee devaluation, the rally lost steam and the market receded partially towards midday.
The KSE-100 index traded range-bound for the remaining part of the session and recorded minor fluctuations before closing on a positive note. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 43,027.88 with a gain of 300.82 points, or 0.70%.
Sectors painting the benchmark KSE-100 index in green included cement (56.83 points), technology and communication (56.21 points) and fertiliser (41.62 points). Volume on the all-share index surged to 278.8 million from 197.92 million a day prior.
The value of shares traded increased to Rs6.91 billion from Rs6.18 billion recorded in the previous session. WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 27.08 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 24.14 million shares, and Telecard Limited with 23.22 million shares.
Shares of 345 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 245 registered an increase, 83 recorded a fall, and 17 remained unchanged.
