KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its winning streak further on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index closing at its highest ever level of 53,860.36 points with a gain of 737.33 points (+1.39 percent).
The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green throughout the session. The investor sentiment remained high amid expectations of a successful International Monetary Fund (IMF) review. The KSE-100 Index has gained more than 30 percent this year, with a turnaround in fortunes coming after the IMF approved a $3 billion loan programme in July to avert a sovereign debt default.
A delegation of the global body landed in Islamabad last week for the much-awaited loan review talks, setting the stage for a deep dive into forward-looking reforms under a nine-month bailout package, slated to be completed in March next year. The bull run is also being attributed to the falling interest rate in secondary markets, which is helping the equity market. Moreover, the continuing company buybacks are adding impetus to the market.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 778.04 points, showing an intraday high of 53,944.89 points and an intraday low of 53,166.85 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 464.20 points (+1.29 percent) to close at 35,898.80 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 326.15 points (+1.24 percent) to close at 26,299.12 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 53.61 million to 269.49 million shares against 215.88 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 37.44 million shares to 546.55 million shares against 509.11 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, CNERGY topped the volumes with 68.07 million shares, followed by PRL (37.32 million) and PIBTL (34.52 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included CNERGY, PRL, BIPTL, HASCOL, and HUMNL, which formed over 37 percent of total volumes.
A total of 365 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 253 closed up, shares of 97 companies closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged. A total of 98 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 87 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 77 companies closed up, 20 closed down and one remained unchanged.- TLTP