Stocks recover 1,719 points on value-hunting

Despite a weaker rupee amid falling State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, the stock market snapped a three-session losing streak on Thursday as bulls drove bears out on aggressive value-hunting across the board, propelling the benchmark KSE 100 index above the 113,000 level. Topline Securities Ltd said the market saw a positive turnaround, with the index dipping to an intraday low of 111,806 points and climbing to a high of 113,401 points before closing at 113,206 points, up by 1,719 points or 1.54 per cent day-on-day. The rally was primarily fuelled by strong performances from Mari Energies, Bank Al-Habib AHL, Lucky Cement, PSO, and Hub Power, adding 923 points to the index. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks turned bullish amid speculations in the earning season ahead of major earnings announcements this week. He added that IMF proposals to ease the gas circular debt issue and commitments from the US investor delegation supported the bullish activity at PSX.