Index-heavy cement, banks, oil and gas shares led the rally as the KSE-100 closed above 48,000 after over six weeks with volumes also registering a significant increase at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

The index has been on upward trajectory in the past few sessions, with Monday's gain helping the KSE-100 cross the elusive 48,000-point barrier. The KSE-100 hit an intra-day high of 545.07 points with the benchmark index going near 48,150.

At close on Monday, the KSE-100 Index finished with an addition of 512.39 points or 1.08% to end at 48,112.21, above the 48,000 mark for the first time since July 08, 2021.

Since then, the index had been hovering between 47,000-48,000 for nearly six weeks before Monday's session.

“Investor interest was revived in the cement sector after market expectations of softer coal prices helped the sector close up 0.66% while higher international oil prices drove local oil stocks with OGDC and PPL cumulatively adding 102 points to the benchmark index. Moreover, the expectation of $2.7 billion receipts from the IMF further buoyed sentiment at the bourse,” said Topline Securities in its post-market comment.

Sectors painting the benchmark KSE-100 index in the green included the banking sector (171.67 points), oil and gas exploration (145.54 points), and oil and gas marketing (38.96 points).

Cement and steel stocks lead rally as KSE-100 gains 341 points

Volume on the all-share index increased significantly from 299.13 million on Friday to 397.69 million on Monday. Meanwhile, the value of shares traded during the session jumped to Rs14.85 billion, from Rs13.06 billion on Friday.

Hum Network remained the volume leader with 35.38 million shares, followed by Bank of Punjab with 22.27 million shares, and Ghani Global Holding at 19.88 million shares.

Shares of 494 companies were traded on Monday, of which 331 registered an increase, 144 recorded a fall, while 19 remained unchanged.