Bulls continued to rule at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed the 51,000 level on Monday after a single-day gain of 339 points amid talks of hike in gas tariff.
It was the highest close since May 30, 2017.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 51,419.87. However, some profit-taking in later part of the day slightly curbed the gains.
At close, the benchmark index closed at 51,070.83, up by 338.96 points or 0.67%.
On Friday, the KSE-100 Index had closed higher by 367 points.
According to some media reports, the interim government is likely to increase the gas tariff by over 100% to reduce gas sector circular debt and meet an IMF demand.
Resultantly, the oil and gas sector saw heavy buying activity in today’s session.
On the other hand, Pak Suzuki (PSMC) hit another upper limit and Honda (HCAR) also traded positive.
The positive trend was also attributed to improved economic indicators with the stronger rupee giving a boost to equities.
In 1QFY24, the current account deficit declined by 58% YoY to $947 million, in contrast to a deficit of ~$2 billion recorded during the same period in the previous year.
“This positive change was primarily attributable to a 34% YoY reduction in the trade deficit,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in its latest report.
“As a result of a contained CAD, disbursements from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries as well as crackdown measures, the PKR made a remarkable recovery.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal losses against the US dollar, as it depreciated 0.11% in the inter-bank market on Monday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local currency settled at 279.12 after a decrease of Re0.32 in the inter-bank market.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 364.07 million from 430.05 million a day before.
The value of shares rose to Rs15.93 billion from Rs14.61 billion in the previous session.
Oil & Gas Dev.XD remained the volume leader with 27.5 million shares, followed by Pak PetroleumXD with 24.26 million shares and Fauji Foods Ltd with 19.27 million shares.
Shares of 352 companies were traded on Monday, of which 171 registered an increase, 150 recorded a fall, while 31 remained unchanged.
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