Stock market gains 816 points to cross 40,000 points barrier

KARACHI: The stock market on Wednesday shot up by over 816 points to cross the 40,000 points level which it had lost earlier this week over economic challenges.

The benchmark KSE 100 index rose by 816.67 points, or an increase on 2.01 points to close at 40,531.13 points. The indices shot up and cross the 40,000 level barrier before trading was suspended. The total volume of shares traded also increased to 126.56 million valued at Rs6.51 billion.

Meanwhile, the KSE 30 index also increased by 403.97 points (2.21%) to close at 18,,692.93 points. The total volume of scripts was 70.57 million. The share prices of top active stocks increased including Hascol (2.95%), MLCF (3.59%), Unity (2.87%), PIAA (4.49%), followed by DGKC (3.19%), TRG (2.14%), Cherat Cement (3.18%), and K-Electric (1.45%).

This is the second consecutive day which has seen the stock market rise after a lacklustre last week after an easing in economic challenges. Yesterday, the federal cabinet approved a comprehensive package worth Rs10 billion which will be provided to Utility Stores Corporation to provide relief and reduce the impact of food inflation.

The federal cabinet endorsed the recent decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to ban sugar exports, but allowed the import of sugar and imposed a regulatory duty on it. The government has also ordered comprehensive reports on the wheat and sugar crises.

This had a positive impact on the stock market. The unprecedented inflation is being blamed on rupee devaluation against the dollar and increase in gas and electricity tariffs. Thus, the government has decided to halt any further increase and gas and electricity rates. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 14.56 percent raising alarms that the inflation rate must be contained.