Market participants at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) seemed to have somewhat shrugged off concerns pertaining to budgetary measures, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 200 points on Wednesday.
The bulls dominated in the first half as the index briefly crossed 73,000, before witnessing some profit-taking in the final hours.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 72,797.43, up by 207.94 points or 0.29%.
Experts believed that investors ‘over-reacted’ to rumours and unconfirmed reports, allowing a re-entry to the market after it fell into oversold territory.
Earlier, buying was witnessed in sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas marketing companies and OMCs.
Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, PSO and SHEL traded in the positive.
“The market has been under concerned amid news flow regarding budgetary measures, but they seem to have largely subsided,” Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research and Development Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Private) Limited, told media.
Mohammed Sohail, CEO Topline Securities said the “market over-reacted on tax rumours” regarding capital markets.
The incumbent government is all set to present its first growth-oriented federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, with an estimated outlay of over Rs18 trillion, on June 12 (Wednesday).
The budget for fiscal year 2024-25 would be presented before the National Assembly by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb.
On Tuesday, the government’s economic survey revealed that Pakistan’s economy is likely to have expanded by 2.4% in the fiscal year that ends this month, missing a target of 3.5%.
It was, however, an improvement on last year’s contraction of 0.17% and in line with the full-year projection of the State Bank of Pakistan, which cut its key interest rate by 150 basis points on Monday as it strives to boost the economy.
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