LAHORE: The last day of the week brought no good news for investors at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). An international news agency reported the Prime Minister and State Bank of believing that the nation can weather the strain of its widening external deficits and shrinking foreign-exchange reserves.
According to World Bank estimates of October 2017 external financing of $17 billion of or over 5 per cent of GDP will be required in the ongoing financial year through June to cover the gap between its debt payments and current account deficit. Rising imports have helped fuel imbalance as the current account deficit more than doubled during the year through September.
Investors did not seem to have taken any confidence from the news and the benchmark KSE 100 index traded 176.16 points in the red and 96.86 points in the green before it settled with a minor 31.09 points rise at 40,844.40. The KMI 30 index appreciated by 173.10 points to touch 70,398.19 resurrecting from intraday low of 69,880.22, down 344.87 points. The KSE All Share Index ended the session up 109.85 points. The advancers to decliners ratio stood at 170 to 152.
The market volumes hit 115.55 million with TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +4.99 per cent) at the top. The script fetched a volume of 15.93 million. Azgard Nine Limited (ANL +3.57 per cent) ranked second on the volume table with 12.66 million shares exchanged followed by Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL -0.36 per cent), volume 9.97 million.
Sitara Chemicals (SITC +2.97) notified the exchange that JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (JCR-VIS) has maintained ratings of the company at ‘A+/A-1’ (Single A Plus/ A-One). Outlook on the assigned ratings have been revised from Stable to positive.
