Stocks rise on monetary policy

The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed the revival of investor interest on optimism that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would maintain status quo in its monetary policy announcement. The market kicked off trading on a positive note and soon the benchmark KSE100 index touched intra-day high of 42,441.29 points. Investor optimism was also fuelled by a statement from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that Pakistan would not seek debt restructuring from the Paris Club and would meet all multilateral and international payment obligations. However, the index receded during midday trading and remained range bound in late hours, erasing most of the gains. Later, the State Bank left the benchmark policy rate unchanged at 15% for the next seven weeks. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 126.39 points, or 0.3%, to settle at 42,211.64. Topline Securities, in its report, said the KSE-100 index largely traded in the positive zone, which could be attributed to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement that Pakistan would not seek debt restructuring from the Paris Club and would meet all multilateral, international and bond payments. Major contribution to the index came from TRG Pakistan, Lotte Chemical, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pak Elektron and Dawood Hercules as they cumulatively contributed 144 points. On the flip side, Meezan Bank, Engro Fertilisers, Engro Corporation, Frieslandcampina Engro Pakistan and ColgatePalmolive lost value, removing 86 points from the index.