The KSE-100 Index surged 0.63% on Monday after a lacklustre session was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investors braced themselves for the upcoming budget.
The rally was led by fertiliser, cement, banks, refinery and exploration and production sectors.
At close, the index ended up at 41,577.21, a rise of 262.33 points or 0.63%. On Friday, the PSX had faced the impact of a series of major negative economic developments and dropped 2.19%.
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On Monday, however, trading kicked off positively before the index dropped to an intra-day low in the initial hour, driven by profit taking.
The market then took a U-turn, wiped off the losses and entered the green zone. Buoyed by cherry picking, the KSE-100 index traded upward for the rest of the day before closing with a gain.
The increase in the KSE-100 Index comes despite across the board increase in energy prices (petrol, gas and electricity), which added to woes of the local currency that depreciated sharply to breach the 200 mark.
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As per analysts, the local currency is forecasted to fall further due to outflows for oil payments and other imports. Moreover, matters with International Monetary Fund (IMF) remain undecided causing further economic uncertainty.
In a report, Capital Stake stated that the PSX staged a rally on first trading session of the week. Indices accumulated gains for most part of the session while volumes declined from last close. Equity markets around the globe showed negative trend, it said.
Topline Securities stated that Pakistan equities closed on a green note where benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 41,577 points. During the day, KSE-100 index made intra-day low at 282 points. However, value hunting kicked in at the aforesaid level which assisted the benchmark index to show some recovery which led to make intra-day high of 360 points.
Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE-100 index higher included cement (63.20 points), oil and gas exploration (53.99 points) and banking (30.09 points).
Volume on the all-share index dropped to 189.2 million from 225.4 million on Friday. The value of shares traded fell to Rs4.9 billion from Rs5.99 billion recorded in the previous session.
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Unity Foods was the volume leader with 33.1 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 16.3 million shares, and TPL Properties with 11.66 million shares.
Shares of 342 companies were traded on Monday, of which 193 registered an increase, 126 recorded a fall, and 23 remained unchanged.
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