Midday Report: KSE100 up by 943 points on improved fundamentals

August 3, 2022 (MLN):  The local bourse witnessed a massive gain of over 943 points so far [1:38 PST] and currently trading at the 41,129- mark as economic fundamentals improved.

The huge buying activity is attributed to a positive statement from the IMF that Pakistan has met the final prerequisite for the release of $1.1 billion of bailout funds under the seventh and eighth reviews along with a massive PKR recovery of Rs10 in intraday trade. The Rupee was being traded at around Rs228 per USD at 12:50 pm in the interbank.

Further, the remarkable recovery is also attributed to the improved economic fundamentals as the import bill in July 2022 has been reduced to $4.86 billion, down by 38.31% MoM, compared to $7.88bn in the previous month.  While compared to the corresponding month the previous year, the imports showed a decline of 12.81% from $5.57bn reported in July 2021.

Accordingly, the trade deficit for the outgoing month narrowed to $2.64bn compared to a deficit of $4.96bn in the preceding month, witnessing an improvement of 46.77% MoM. 

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail stated on Monday, "Government’s efforts to reduce imports have now finally started showing results and the government is keen to work on making the economic crisis less."

On the same day, in an interview with Bloomberg, while giving a clue of upcoming stability he said that Pakistan sees a way out of its current economic crisis without descending into default, thanks to progress on a stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan as well as spending cuts. 

Meanwhile, Dr Esther Perez Ruiz, IMF’s Resident Representative for Pakistan on Wednesday said, "Pakistan has completed all prior actions for loan review."

She went on to say that the country has met its last prior action of the IMF for the combined 7th and 8th review after increasing the petroleum development levy (PDL).

So, technically this development should unlock the tranche of $1.177bn, bringing total disbursements under the program to about $4.2bn which would further improve the dollar PKR parity.

So far, Banks, Cement, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies, Fertilizer, and Technology have witnessed the highest buying activity as they have added around 223, 175, 97, 51, and 49 points to the index respectively.

Company-wise, the scrips of UBL, LUCK, MCB, POL, HBL, COLG, MEBL,  and PSO, have endured the maximum gains.

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