Stocks edge higher in peaceful week

Market sentiments remained predominantly positive in the outgoing week. Arif Habib Ltd said the mood was bolstered by significant developments on economic and political fronts. The Election Commission of Pakistan announced the general election would be held in the last week of January 2024. The announcement helped address uncertainty in the market. Moreover, the cut-off yield in the latest auction of treasury bills declined by as much as 217 basis points. In addition to this, the rupee exhibited consistent appreciation over the week. The local currency closed against the dollar at 291.76 after gaining 5.1 or 1.7 per cent week-on-week. Moreover, foreign exch­ange reserves of the central bank increased by $56 million to reach $7.7 billion. As a result, the benchmark index of the stock market closed at 46,421 points after increasing by 668 points or 1.5pc from a week ago. Sector-wise, positive contributions came from commercial banking (202 points), power generation and distribution (111 points), oil and gas exploration (96 points), chemical (77 points) and pharmaceutical (31 points) sectors.