KSE-100 ends 437 points higher, but shy of 52,000

Bullish sentiment prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 437 points during trading on Tuesday.

Earlier during the day, the benchmark index crossed the 52,000 level after over six years before succumbing to some profit-taking.

At close, the KSE-100 settled at 51,920.27, up by 437.34 points or 0.85%.

“The index crossed 52,000 level after 30 May 2017,” said brokerage house Arif Habib Limited in a note earlier in the day.

Experts said that investors rejoiced over improved corporate profitability, and the government’s decision to raise gas tariffs, which is expected to boost the profitability of the energy sector.

Across-the-board buying was witnessed among the index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery and technology & communication sectors trading in green.

On Monday, the KSE-100 Index had soared by over 1% to settle at 51,482.93, up by 539.09 points.

On the same day, the federal government approved an increase in the price of natural gas for different categories of consumers as advised by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority with effect from November 1, 2023.

Additionally, the SBP’s Monetary Policy Committee kept the key policy rate unchanged at 22%.

According to a report by Arif Habib Limited, the KSE-100 remained the world’s third best-performing market in the month of October.

“The expectation of peaking inflation and interest rates alongside the completion of almost all of the targets for IMF 1st review fuelled the momentum at the onset of the month,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee lost value for the seventh successive session against the US dollar as it depreciated 0.18% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local currency settled at 281.47, a decrease of Re0.52.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 455.33 million from 286.6 million a session before.

The value of shares increased to Rs15.6 billion from Rs11.4 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK remained the volume leader with 71.2 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 51.5 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 22.6 million shares.

Shares of 357 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 188 registered an increase, 147 recorded a fall, while 22 remained unchanged.