KARACHI, : Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its bullish run and breached the 62,000 points milestone for the first time on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 801.80 points (+1.30 percent) to close at 62,493.05 points.
The bull-run was driven by strong buying in index-heavy shares such as oil and gas exploration companies, banks, and auto assemblers. The market sentiment was boosted by a recent staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the first review under the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The agreement paved the way for releasing the second tranche of $700 million to Pakistan.
The investors are encouraged by the improvement in the country’s financial indicators, such as the extension of $3 billion deposit by Saudi Arabia, the expected $2 billion inflow from the World Bank in FY24, the above-target tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the relatively stable rupee. The market experts believe that the interest rates have peaked and are likely to decline from 2024.
The PSX has seen a phenomenal rise of nearly 17 percent and the highest foreign investment in six years of $34.5 million in November 2023, indicating the strong confidence of investors in the country’s economic revival. The KSE-100 has gained 21,040 points during the current fiscal year, making the PSX the world’s second-best performer during this period, following Argentina.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 851.05 points, showing an intraday high of 62,912.61 points and an intraday low of 62,061.56 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 557.30 points (+1.34 percent) to close at 41,602.67 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 479.36 points (+1.57 percent) to close at 30,576.81 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 73.99 million to 369 million shares against 295.89 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 202.96 million shares to 734.29 million shares against 531.33 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 57.08 million shares, followed by FCCL (41.98 million) and OGDC (23.81 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, FCCL, OGDC, PPL, and PRL, which formed over 23 percent of total volumes.
A total of 387 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 248 closed up, shares of 120 companies closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged. A total of 100 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 97 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 70 companies closed up, 29 companies closed down and one remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased to 310,137 from 214,506 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs10.08 billion to Rs31.64 billion against Rs21.56 billion in the previous session. This was the ninth-highest traded daily value in PKR terms for the index.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs700 (+3.26 percent) per share, closing at Rs22,200. The runner-up remained RMPL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs633.23 (+5.83 percent) to Rs11,490. HPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs47 (-3.77 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,201, followed by PSMC, the share price of which fell by Rs40.9 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs504.39 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (273 points), automobile assembler (81 points), oil & gas marketing companies (64 points), food
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