KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains in the bull-run for the seventh consecutive session on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index breaching the 48,000 points level after almost two years and settling at 48,034.59 points with a gain of 957.60 points (+2.03 percent).
The KSE-100 Index smashed 48,000 points level last time in August 2021. In the previous session, the KSE-100 Index closed above 47,000 points after 21 months. The index has closed the previous three weeks on a positive note and collectively gained 2,870.01 points. Similarly, the benchmark index has gained 6,581 points since the government signed the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on June 30.
The market opened on a positive note and remained positive throughout the session. The market got a fresh trigger to extend gains after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday vowed to raise the country’s foreign exchange reserves to $15 billion within the next seven weeks. The reserves, which have already increased by $4.2 billion this month, are expected to further improve the country’s economic stability. Moreover, Dar claimed that flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to the United Kingdom (UK) would resume by October.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 753.96 points showing an intraday high of 48,126.50 points and an intraday low of 47,372.54 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 586.15 points (+1.83 percent) to close at 32,027.28 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 476.78 points (+2.04 percent) to close at 23,423.23 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 61.36 million shares to 315.68 million shares against 254.32 shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 36.76 million shares to 491.87 million shares against 455.11 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 49.34 million shares, followed by KEL (39.45 million) and CNERGY (32.41 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, CNERGY, KEL, PPL, and OGDC, which formed over 34 percent of total volumes.
A total of 355 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 342 a session earlier, out of which shares of 188 closed up, shares of 141 closed down while shares of 26 companies remained unchanged. A total of 97 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 96 a session earlier, out of which share price of 77 companies closed up, 18 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 3,526 to 194,014 against 190,488 trades in the previous session, while the value traded remained unchanged at Rs17.88 billion as compared to the previous session.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs1,050 (+4.61 percent) per share, closing at Rs23,850. The runner-up remained NESTLE, the share price of which climbed up by Rs60 (+0.87 percent) to Rs6,950. SAPL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs30.4 (-4.05 percent) per share, closing at Rs720, followed by PSEL, the share price of which fell by Rs24.79 (-3.31 percent) to close at Rs725.21 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks (382 points), oil & gas exploration companies (259 points), cement (72 points), oil & gas marketing companies (62 points), and technology & communication (62 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained OGDC (125 points), HBL (121 points), PPL (92 points), MEBL (87 points), and BAHL (61 points).-TLTP