A positive momentum was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 gained 0.57%, led by buying in index-heavy oil and gas stocks.
Throughout trading, indices steadily accumulated gains, with both the volume and value of shares traded showing a slight increase compared to the previous session.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 65,525.65, an increase of 373.82 points or 0.57%.
Buying was witnessed across select sectors with OGDC, PPL, PSO, SHEL and SNGPL settling in the green.
In a key development, it was reported that the Spring meetings 2024 of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are scheduled on April 15-20, 2024 in Washington DC.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will lead the Pakistani delegation during the meetings, with climate finance, renewable energy, and food and water security under focus.
During the previous week, the PSX witnessed a mixed trend as the investors remained cautious and avoided taking fresh positions.
The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 335.36 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 65,151.83.
Globally, Asian shares dithered on Monday as investors worried US inflation data this week could derail the outlook for lower interest rates, while the risk of currency intervention from Japan stalled the yen’s decline for the moment.
China’s central bank also engineered a rally in the yuan after setting a firmer fix for the currency, nudging the dollar lower more broadly.
The main data event of the week will be US core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index on Friday which is seen rising 0.3% in February, keeping the annual pace at 2.8%. Anything higher would be taken as a setback to hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut in June.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, and just below eight-month highs, while Chinese blue chips added 0.23%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday.
At close, the local unit settled at 278.13, up by Re0.01 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 261.2 million from 208.40 million a session ago.
The value of shares improved to Rs8.95 billion from Rs7.15 billion in the previous session.
P.T.C.L. was the volume leader with 27.18 million shares, followed by Hascol Petrol with 21.38 million shares, and K-Electric Limited with 20.91 million shares.
Shares of 334 companies were traded on Monday, of which 145 registered an increase, 169 recorded a fall, while 20 remained unchanged.
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