The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed 158 points higher on Monday as profit-taking trimmed intra-day gains.

The KSE-100 started the session with a buying spree, hitting an intra-high of 79,993.18.

However, profit-taking in the latter hours provided the bears some relief and pushed the index to an intra-day low of 79,368.18. As has been the case, the level of 80,000 has proved to be elusive.

At close, following some buying in the final hours, the benchmark index settled at 79,491.14, up by 158.08 points or 0.20%.

During the day, MEBL, DGKC, UBL, ENGRO, and OGDC contributed negatively by losing 126 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, MARI, HUBC, and EFERT saw some buying interest as they added 373 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

Another brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said increased political noise had taken a toll on the market.

“The benchmark index closed on a positive note today, starting the day with optimism and climbing 660 points. However, as the session progressed, the gains were eroded due to political uncertainty,” it said.

After some unusual buzz on Sunday in the capital city regarding a ‘constitutional package’ from the government, both the National Assembly (NA) and Senate sessions were prorogued again on Monday.

“Proposed amendments have not yet been presented before the federal cabinet as a draft nor in the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said while addressing the floor of the Parliament today.

“The proposed package envisages formation of the judicial commission as per the spirit of the 18th amendment and it is proposed to empower the judicial commission to evaluate the performance of the judges of the high court,” he told the NA.

Globally, Asian stocks made a cautious start on Monday in a week that is almost certain to see the start of an easing cycle in the United States with the only question mark being the size of the cut, with markets split on the chance of an outsized move.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat, after bouncing 0.8% last week.

Japan’s Nikkei was shut but futures traded at 36,490 compared to a cash close of 36,581 as recent yen gains pressured exporters.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both a fraction firmer. Economic data from China over the weekend disappointed as industrial output growth slowed to a five-month low in August, while retail sales and new home prices weakened further.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the currency settled at 278.13, a gain of Re0.03 against the US dollar.

Volume on the all-share index fell to 536.19 million from 916.05 million on Friday.

The value of shares plunged to Rs8.91 billion from Rs21.24 billion in the previous session.

Pace (Pak) Ltd was the volume leader with 56.89 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 48.93 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 40.22 million shares.

Shares of 443 companies were traded on Monday, of which 139 registered an increase, 253 recorded a fall, while 51 remained unchanged.