After over 500-point gain, KSE-100 closes at six-year high

Bulls continued to dominate at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as its benchmark KSE-100 Index hit a six-year high on Wednesday.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 48,764.55 after an increase of 534.04 points or 1.11%.

It was the highest closing level for the KSE-100 after six years. Back on June 9, 2017, the index finished at 49,527 points.

The bull run has come on the back of the $3-billion Stand-By Arrangement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was finalised on the last day of June.

Since then, the market has gained 7,312 points or 17.6%.

On Wednesday, the KSE-100 index hit a low of 48,178.89 intra-day trading, but buying interest was soon revived.

Index-heavy sectors such as oil and gas exploration, OMCs, chemical, and engineering led the rally.

A mixed trend was witnessed in commercial banks, automobile assemblers, and cement sectors.

On the economic front, Pakistan’s textile sector exports witnessed a significant decline of 15% in July, clocking in at $1.31 billion compared to $1.54 billion recorded in the same month of the previous year, showed provisional data released by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association.

The Pakistani rupee registered a loss for the third straight session against the US dollar as it depreciated 0.64% on Wednesday.

In its daily market report, brokerage house Capital Stake stated that bulls remained on a roll on Wednesday.

“Indices traded in green for most part of the day while volumes inched up from last close,” it said.

Sectors driving the benchmark index forward included, oil and gas exploration (157.15pts), banking (144.78pts) and fertiliser sector (58.40pts).

Company-wise, OGDC (112.17pts), HBL (103.57pts), and Engro Corporation Limited (50.90pts) were top contributors.

The oil and gas exploration sector gained 2.58% in its cumulative market capitalisation, according to Capital Stake.

Volume on the all-share index decreased marginally to 556.1 million from 556.9 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded increased to Rs19.98 billion from Rs15.94 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 92.8 million shares, followed by B.O.Punjab with 46.9 million shares and Pak Refinery with 31.3 million shares.

Shares of 353 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 194 registered an increase, 128 recorded a fall, and 31 remained unchanged.