Pakistani stocks gain on healthy results; rupee firms vs dollar

Pakistani stocks edged slightly higher on Wednesday, driven by healthy corporate results announcements by telecommunication and oil and gas companies, and dealers said volumes also improved compared with the last few days.

“There were some exceptional results by Lotte Pakistan PTA yesterday and then today very surprisingly good dividend was announced by the Pakistan Telecommunication (PTCL) which helped the volumes,” said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities.

The government is expected to announce the budget for the 2011/12 (July-June) fiscal year by the end of May or early June.

On Wednesday, PTCL announced a cash dividend of 1.75 rupees a share despite a nearly 62 percent decline in net profit for the quarter ended on March 31.

The Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd , however, reported a 24.6 percent increase in net profit for the quarter.

From: Af Reuters