KARACHI: Stocks closed higher on Wednesday as investors welcomed the recovery in the rupee`s value against the dollar likely because of the expected tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Arif Habib Corporation analyst Ahsan Mehanti said there was some midsession pressure on stocks owing to a downgrade by international ratings agency Fitch.

In addition, uncertainty over the outcome of the Finance Supplementary Bill 2023 containing new taxes to meet IMF conditions also put stocks under stress.

However, strong financial results and the expectation of heavy pay-outs in the oil and gas sector to settle the circular debt played the role of a catalyst in the bullish close.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,326.86points, up 176.7 points or 0.43 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 26.7pc to 137.4 million shares. Thetraded value went down 21.6pc to $23m on a day-onday basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCallTelecom Ltd (12.6m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (7.8m shares), the Hub Power Company Ltd (7.2m shares), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (7.1m shares)and TRG Pakistan Ltd (6.9m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were technology and communication (72.9points), exploration and production (65.5 points), power generation and distribution (51.8 points), cement (38.2 points) and automobile assembling (21.1 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs80), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs79.91), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs36.11), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs29.15) and Good Luck Industries Ltd (Rs25).

Companies that recorded the biggestdeclinesintheir share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs1,574.50), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs134.44), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs44.05), Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs30.74) and Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs28.49).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.6m.