PSX hits record closing above 75,000 points for first time

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with its record-breaking spree on Friday and achieved another milestone when its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed above 75,000 points level for the first time in history, gaining 411.65 points (0.55 percent) to close at 75,342.34 points.
Earlier, the KSE-100 Index briefly crossed 75,000 points level during intra-day on Wednesday and Thursday last, but was unable to sustain the level due to some selling pressure. The market opened on a positive note on Friday and remained positive throughout the both sessions of the day. The benchmark KSE-100 index has surged by 80.10 percent during the fiscal year 2023-24 and 16.52 percent during the current year.
The market’s historic bull run, which started last year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal, has been further fueled amid strong foreign buying spree, renewed bets for interest rate cuts due to improvement in economic conditions, and official talks for a new IMF program. Foreign investors have been heavily accumulating debt-ridden nation’s stock throughout the fiscal year 2024.
Foreign buying in the current month to date has amounted to $21.95 million, on its way to record the longest monthly buying streak since at least 2016, according to NCCPL data. In the current fiscal year, foreign buying has amounted to a substantial $145 million, as against an outflow of $5.5 million in the same period last year.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 453.40 points, showing an intraday high of 75,401.11 points and an intraday low of 74,947.71 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 232.51 points (0.48 percent) to close at 48,769.45 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 229,59.66 points (0.73 percent) to close at 34,803.01 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 188.72 million shares, while the overall market volumes remained 496.7 million shares. Among scrips, KOSM topped the volumes with 44.62 million shares, followed by PIAA (28.76 million) and KEL (23.06 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KOSM, PIAA, KEL, DCL, and PAEL, which formed around 28 percent of total volumes.- TLTP