KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) edged up in cautious trade on Tuesday as investors price in the government’s economic measures announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Investors opted to make fresh investments in stocks that had fallen to attractive valuations due to the last week’s bear run.
The market players cheered the relief package announced by the government, under which the price of petrol and diesel was slashed by Rs10 per litre and electricity prices were reduced by Rs5 per unit.
The federal government has further increased cheap lending for low-cost housing and eliminated capital gains taxes for start-ups. Meanwhile, the Cabinet agreed to a third tax amnesty to boost the country’s industrialisation.
At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 gained 342.57 points, or 0.77%, to 44,803.58.
A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market was in bullish territory throughout the day as the relief package announced by the Prime Minister was worth 0.54% of GDP.
“The relief package was announced for the masses to curb the impact of inflation and enhance support to the most vulnerable class of the society for the next four months till budget,” it said.
Headline inflation in February was 12.24% year-on-year, compared with 8.7% in February 2021 and 12.96% in January 2022, the brokerage said.
CPI rose 1.15% month-on-month.
Sectors contributing to the performance included exploration and production (+145.8 points), technology (+100.6 points), chemicals (+34.7 points), power (+20.6 points) and banks (+16.1 points).
Shares of 364 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 226 scrips closed in the green, 117 in the red, and 21 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes rose to 309.34 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 208.12 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.44 billion.
WorldCall Telecom Limited was the volume leader with 29.89 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.13 to close at Rs1.96. It was followed by TPL Properties with 19.15 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.62 to close at Rs18.32, and TRG Pakistan with 18.32 million shares traded, gaining Rs5.19 to close at Rs74.43.
