(Staff Report) :-
Stock prices showed recovery on Friday on corporate share buybacks as well as the affirmation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on productive discussions with respect to the 9th review of the ongoing loan programme.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said shares rose also on the back of the approval of $775 million financing from the Asian Development Bank, rupee’s stability and the government’s decision to slash petroleum prices.
According to Arif Habib Ltd, the benchmark index closed in the red at the close of the first session. But the index crawled into the green zone and traded in the same range after some clarity emerged on the political front.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,301.48 points, up 121.72 points or 0.3 per cent from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume decreased 43pc to 139.7m shares. The traded value went down 45pc to $18.6m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Bank Alfalah Ltd (17.4m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (12.4m shares), Dewan Farooque Motors Ltd (8.1m shares), Dewan Farooque Spinning Mills Ltd (5.4m shares) and Hascol Petroleum Ltd (5.3m shares).
Sectors that contributed to the index performance were technology and communication (57.6 points), miscellaneous (52.2 points), exploration and production (32.1 points), cement (13 points) and fertiliser (12.3 points).
Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs1,000), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs100), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs67.10), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs59.95) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs56).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs28), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs17.72), Millat Tractors Ltd (Rs16.37), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs15.75) and Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs12.93).
Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $2.32m.
