New high: KSE-100 crosses 59,000 as bulls maintain grip

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its record-breaking run as the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed the 59,000 level for the first time in history on Friday.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 59,086.35, up by 186.51 points or 0.32%. This is its highest closing level.

Earlier during the day, the KSE-100 index hit an intra-day high of 59,502.28 before profit-taking during the second half of the trading session erased much of the gains.

The session began with across-the-board buying as index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and technology and communication traded in the positive zone.

On Thursday, bulls had also maintained their grip on the bourse, as the benchmark index settled at 58,899.84, up by 701.08 points or 1.20%.

The stock market is enjoying a bullish spree after the Pakistani authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement on the first review under the nine-month $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) last week.

Experts said that amid the agreement, the market participants are expecting inflows in the coming weeks.

However, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by $217 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $7.2 billion as of November 17, data released on Thursday showed.

Experts said that despite record highs, stock valuations remain attractive, but many believe profit-booking and some level of consolidation is likely.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee sustained back-to-back losses against the US dollar as it depreciated 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Friday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency settled at 285.37, a decrease of Re0.10.

Volume on the all-share index slightly decreased to 658.4 million from 669.2 million a session before.

The value of shares declined to Rs22 billion from Rs25.2 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 66.8 million shares, followed by Pak Int.Bulk with 39 million shares and TPL Properties with 27.4 million shares.

Shares of 387 companies were traded on Friday, of which 165 registered an increase, 203 recorded a fall, while 19 remained unchanged.