Shares closed higher in thin trade Tuesday on positive investor sentiment, rebounding from losses in the previous session that followed allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family, analysts said.
The market shed 1.18 percent on Monday, mainly due to political uncertainty after allegations in the leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca that Sharif’s family owned various offshore assets.
Sharif said last week that his family has done nothing illegal, and set up a commission to investigate all the allegations.
The benchmark 100-share index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed 0.15 percent higher, or 50.68 points, at 33,616.90 on Tuesday.
“Overall market sentiment improved compared to yesterday, with significant gains seen in cement, energy, oil marketing companies, automobiles, insurance and multi-utilities,” said Gohar Rasool, head of international sales at Inter Market Securities Pvt Ltd.
Major gainers included Pakistan State Oil Ltd, up 1.43 percent, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd, which rose 0.7 percent, MCB Bank Ltd, which gained 0.91 percent and D G Khan Cement Company Ltd, which climbed 1.15 percent.
“Healthy auto sales numbers led the local auto assemblers to make gains,” said Hammad Aman, equity sales manager at Topline Securities Pvt Ltd.
Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd gained 0.27 percent, Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd jumped 2.29 percent and Indus Motor Company Ltd was up 0.66 percent.
Traded volume was down almost 30 percent to 83.1 million shares, while traded value stood at 5.68 billion rupees ($54.23 million).
The rupee ended at 104.70/104.73 against the dollar, compared with Monday’s close of 104.71/104.75.
Overnight rates in the money market fell to 6.00 percent from Monday’s close of 6.1 percent.
