Record closing again: KSE-100 rises nearly 1% to close above 72,000

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to surpass new heights as the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed the 72,000 level for the first time in history during trading on Wednesday.

The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 72,414.32.

It witnessed some profit-taking after reaching the intra-day high, but still managed to close the session above 72,000.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 72,051.89, up by 692.49 points or 0.97%. This is now its highest closing in history, and surpasses the level on Monday at 71,433.46.

Buying was witnessed in key sectors including cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs, with index-heavy stocks including PPL, OGDC, PSO, SHEL trading in the green.

Experts attributed the buying spree to improved economic indicators as the market also expects a rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting amid decelerating inflation.

“Another record high at PSX with index gaining around 1000 points mainly led by institutional buying,” said Mohammed Sohail, CEO Topline Securities, in a note earlier during the session.

“After (a) record current account surplus, investors (are) now expecting a big fall in April’s CPI that may result in a cut in interest rate in coming months,” he added.

Pakistan’s current account posted a surplus of $619 million in March 2024, a massive jump compared to the revised surplus of $98 million in the previous month, revealed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday.

In a key development, the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data revealed that the country borrowed $6.899 billion from multiple financing sources during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $7.764 billion borrowed during the same period of 2022-23.

On Tuesday, the PSX witnessed a range-bound session, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed marginally lower by 74 points at 71,359.41.

Globally, Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street, as an after-hours surge in shares of EV maker Tesla following its promise of new models, and upbeat earnings from some U.S. companies lifted risk sentiment.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.55%, having climbed 1% on Tuesday, as stocks rebounded from last week’s steep selloff. Japan’s Nikkei surged 2%.

China stocks were mixed, with the blue-chip index flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.6%.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.39, a loss of Re0.01 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index declined to 599.4 million from 655.93 million a session ago.

The value of shares slightly decreased to Rs24.459 billion from Rs24.485 billion in the previous session.

Pak Int.Bulk was the volume leader with 54.51 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd. with 40.12 million shares, and Air Link Commun with 25.94 million shares.

Shares of 382 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 218 registered an increase, 139 recorded a fall, while 25 remained unchanged.