On Monday, bullish sentiments continued to dominate the stock market, leading to the KSE 100-share index briefly surpassing the 66,000-point threshold for the fourth consecutive session.
The market’s overnight bullish momentum was sustained by the increasing political stability following Shehbaz Sharif’s smooth election as the 24th prime minister of Pakistan.
Topline Securities Ltd reported that the market continued its winning streak driven by prevailing political optimism, with the index reaching an intraday high of 66,007.44 points, climbing by 681.75 points, and a low of 65,325.68 points, dropping by 206.90 points.
Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested a doubling of taxes for both salaried and non-salaried individuals to the Federal Board of Revenue. Additionally, it proposes an increase in the general sales tax rate to 18% for essential items such as unprocessed food, stationery, medicines, and POL products.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation mentioned that the declining trend in the Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (Kibor) following a significant deceleration in headline inflation to 23.1% in February from 28.34% in the previous month might indicate a potential cut in the SBP’s policy rate in its upcoming monetary policy review. A stable rupee and a 30% contraction in trade deficit in 8MFY24 also bolstered investor confidence.
Consequently, the KSE-100 index concluded at 65,951.73 points, marking a gain of 626.04 points or 0.96% from the previous session.
The overall trading volume surged by 37.36% to 472.82 million shares, while the traded value also increased by 21.50% to Rs16.64 billion on a day-on-day basis.
Among the stocks showing the largest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mari Petroleum Ltd (Rs68.45), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs55.62), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs40.62), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs37.79), and Bata Pakistan (Rs30.00).
On the other hand, companies witnessing the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms included Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs213.28), Philip Morris (Pakistan) Ltd (Rs40.43), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs24.95), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs23.36), and Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs18.02).