The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index recovered to end with a 0.74% gain on Thursday, while value and volume of shares traded also improved from the previous session.

The index opened on a negative note amidst reports regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Uncertainty meant the KSE-100 slipped below the 43,000 level before a recovery in the second half meant the index finished over 43,500.

At close, the KSE-100 ended with a gain of 318.76 points, or 0.74%, to settle at 43,522.55.

“Political noise has kept investors on the sidelines who are preferring to wait and watch the scenario,” said Capital Stake in its post-market comment.

Political atmosphere in Pakistan has heated up as the opposition's momentum against Prime Minister Imran Khan on its no-confidence motion gathers pace. It had been earlier reported that National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser has convened the session of the lower house on the opposition’s no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 25.

On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance shared ongoing negotiations under IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) are continuing as planned and the two sides remain engaged on a regular basis at a technical level through virtual meetings and data sharing.

On the corporate front, Nimir Industrial Chemicals Limited in its notice informed that the expansion of its "Soap Noodle Plant" has been successfully completed and commercial production has started. “With this expansion of soap noodles, the plant capacity of soap noodles has been increased to 120,000 metric tons per year,” read the statement.

Sectors pushing the benchmark index upwards included cement (73.73 points), technology & communications (53.08 points) and commercial banks (36.2 points).

Volume on the all-share index increased to 149.79 million, from 138.28 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded also improved to Rs5.64 billion from Rs5 billion recorded in the previous session.

Treet Corporation was the volume leader with 20.76 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan Limited with 10.2 million shares, and TeleCard Limited with 9.4 million shares.

Shares of 334 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 178 registered an increase, 132 recorded a fall, and 24 remained unchanged.

This story was first published in Business Recorder on March 24, 2022.