PSX snaps losing streak as Tarin’s visit boosts investors’ confidence

• Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 178.41 points to close at 44,114.16 points.
• Buoyed by the recent dip, share prices fall to attractive valuations and motivate market participants to assume fresh positions.
• Shares of 338 companies traded during the session.

KARACHI: The four-day bearish spell at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) finally came to a halt on the last day of the futures rollover week as the bulls staged a return and tossed the benchmark KSE-100 index over the 44,000-point barrier once again.

Investor participation revived at the bourse after the visit of Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin.

During his visit, the PM's aide announced that the government will be introducing a certain scheme of taxes that will apply to these assets so that the money can be recycled to the other sectors of the economy as well.

“We are also approving REIT (real estate investment trusts) listings which will benefit the capital market,” he said, adding that petroleum and some power companies in the listed domain will see some activity and that will help the stock exchange as these are heavyweight companies.

Moreover, oil prices dropped to their two-month lows in the international market which also strengthened investors’ confidence.

Buoyed by the recent dip, share prices fell to attractive valuations and motivated market participants to assume fresh positions.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index rose 178.41 points, or 0.41%, to close at 44,114.16 points.

Shares of 338 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 175 scrips closed in the green, 146 in the red, and 17 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes rose to 289.8 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 195.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.3 billion.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 34.2 million shares traded, the value remaining unchanged at Rs34.17. It was followed by TPL Properties with 17.2 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.50 to close at Rs43.23, and Byco Petroleum with 15.03 million shares traded, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs6.43.