KARACHI – The Karachi Stock Exchange recovered the early trade losses till mid day on Tuesday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 117.61 or 0.34 percent to reach 34584.14 points perhaps because of a 100bps policy rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The High and Low were 34625.71 and 34383.03 respectively. The bourse welcomed the SBP rate cut as on the day it was announced the KSE-100 Index had rose by 440 points or 1.29pc to close 34,467 points. Falling interest rate brought renewed interest in high dividend yielding and leveraged stocks.
An analyst said expected resolution to recent fuel shortage issues likely to benefit second tier OMCs and oil refineries owing to higher local demand and speculations ahead of major earning announcements due this week played a catalyst role in bullish activity at KSE.
On Monday, foreigners were one the major investors on Monday, with net purchases of $7.81m, which pulled the month/year-to-date trend from net sales to reflect net purchases of $7.28m. Although the heavyweight oil and gas sector remained mixed on uncertainty over the prospective international oil prices, leveraged stocks in cements, textiles and fertilisers converged to push the index to uncharted territory.