A day before the General Election 2024, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed 345 points higher, aided by a late-session buying spree.

On Wednesday, the KSE-100 witnessed range-bound trading in the first half of the session. However, the second half saw a buying spree that helped the index regain 64,000 level after around two weeks.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 64,143.87, up by 344.85 points or 0.54 %.

“The benchmark index closed on a positive note today, extending the positive streak, driven by investors’ focus on value buying in anticipation of the 2024 election optimism,” brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities stated in its post-market report.

Power generation and distribution, commercial banks, and fertiliser sectors were the major contributors in Wednesday’s session, it added.

On Tuesday, the KSE-100 had gained nearly 800 points as the PSX saw interest in the oil and gas sector.

Nearly 129 million registered voters in Pakistan are set to use their voting right tomorrow as the fifth largest democracy in the world will choose its rulers for the next five years.

Security is on high alert across the country, with increased number of terrorist attacks in 2024. On Wednesday, just a day before the general elections, at least 24 people were killed and several sustained injuries in two separate attacks in Balochistan province.

On the economic front, a majority of Pakistani Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of companies remain somewhat optimistic about Pakistan’s economic growth in the coming 12 months as revealed in the recently-published PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey – Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the rupee registered marginal improvement as it appreciated 0.03% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local unit settled at 279.34 after a gain of Re0.08 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 327.6 million from 331 million a session before.

The value of shares declined to Rs14.3 billion from Rs15.2 billion in the previous session.

K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 44.4 million shares, followed by Oil & Gas Dev. with 25 million shares, and Pak Elektron at 21.3 million shares.

Shares of 356 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 203 registered an increase, 125 recorded a fall, while 28 remained unchanged.