KSE-100 hits new high with 737-point gain as bull-run continues

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its merry run as the benchmark KSE-100 index was up by 737 points, hitting historic-highs along the way as it moved near the 54,000 level on Monday.

The KSE-100 hit an intra-day low of 53,166.86 at the start of the session, but a strong buying-spree in most part of the day kept it in the positive territory.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 53,860.37, an increase of 737.33 points or 1.39%. This is the highest closing level for the KSE-100.

During the previous week, the KSE-100 index had hit what was then a record high on the back of aggressive buying mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.

The benchmark index surged by 2,179.20 points on a week-on-week basis and crossed the 53,000 barrier to close on highest ever level of 53,123.04 points for the first time in history.

Across-the-board buying was witnessed Monday, with index-heavy sectors including cement, chemicals, commercial banks, and OMCs trading in the green.

Market experts told Business Recorder that the positive momentum was fueled by overall improvement in macros, notably the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 22% in the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

Additionally, a decline in the inflation rate, with October 2023 CPI at 26.9% YoY, and positive feedback from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission during their ongoing visit to Pakistan added to the positive sentiment.

Furthermore, political stability, marked by the announcement of final election date by the country’s election commission, also contributed to the favourable market conditions.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee endured losses against the US dollar for the eleventh consecutive session as it depreciated 0.34% in the inter-bank market on Monday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local currency settled at 285.29, a decrease of Re0.98.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 546.5 million from 509.1 million a session before.

The value of shares rose to Rs17.9 billion from Rs15.5 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK remained the volume leader with 68 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 37.3 million shares and Pak Int.Bulk with 34.5 million shares.

Shares of 368 companies were traded on Monday, of which 256 registered an increase, 97 recorded a fall, while 15 remained unchanged.