KARACHI: The rise in gasoline prices, along with anticipation for the restart of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, caused the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to trade rangebound on Friday.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index finished in the green, up 319.74 points, or 0.75 percent, to 42,861.45 points.

At least 527.67 million shares worth Rs13.9 billion were exchanged, up from 347.06 million on Thursday.

Shares in 368 firms were traded, with 223 closing in the green, 131 in the red, and 14 remaining unchanged.

Fertilizer (+44.1 points), E&P (+43.0 pts), banking (+40.5 pts), chemical (+37.6 pts), and cement (+35.4 pts) all contributed to the performance.

PSX finishes the rollover week in the green on the back of renewed IMF programme prospects.
In its post-session comments, Arif Habib Limited said that the PSX “witnessed a long-awaited bull run” after the government’s decision to raise petroleum prices in light of the reopening of the IMF programme, which resulted in the rupee’s price rise versus the USD.

“Investors delighted as the KSE-100 rose by 1,013 points throughout the session, providing bulls an advantage to continue active throughout the day.” However, profit selling was noticed in the final trading hour owing to the conclusion of rollover week,” stated the AHL, noting that heavy volumes were recorded across the board, with third-tier equities dominating.

With over 64 million shares traded, Cnergyico PK was the volume leader, earning Rs0.02 to settle at Rs5.73. Pak Refinery came in second with 55.63 million shares traded, losing Rs0.65 to end at Rs17.79, while WorldCall Telecom Limited came in third with 21.50 million shares traded, losing Rs0.06 to settle at Rs1.57.

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