KSE-100 settles near 66,000 as bulls hail govt formation developments

Bullish momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investors rejoiced at developments on the formation of a new government with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 600 points during trading on Monday.

Throughout the day, the index experienced consistent gains. At close, the benchmark index settled at 65,951.72, an increase of 626.04 points or 0.96%.

Earlier, during the day, the index crossed the 66,000 level.

Buying was witnessed in index-heavy shares with Engro, OGDC, PPL, SNGP settling in the green.

Experts said buying comes as political volatility in the country cooled off.

Following the general elections last month, Shehbaz Sharif was elected on Sunday as the prime minister of Pakistan for a second term by securing 201 votes.

Later, Shehbaz took oath on Monday as the twenty-fourth Prime Minister at a ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.

Additionally, a lower headline inflation reading for February gave impetus to sentiment that Pakistan’s central bank would start its monetary easing cycle earlier than expected.

During the previous week, PSX witnessed a bullish trend on the back of healthy buying by both local and foreign investors coupled with institutional support after easing political situation in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 2,509.87 points on week-on-week basis and crossed 65,000 psychological-level to close at 65,325.69 points.

Globally, Asian share markets firmed on Monday as the Nikkei reached another new high and investors braced for a week packed with central bank events and major data that will refine market wagers for when interest rates will start falling.

All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell when he testifies before lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday, though analysts assume he will stay in wait-and-see mode on policy given recent upside surprises on inflation.

The February payrolls report on Friday could also shift the calculus with forecasts favouring a still-solid rise of 200,000 after January’s barnstorming 353,000 jump.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local unit settled at 279.26, a loss of Re0.07, against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 472.86 million from 344.22 million a session ago.

The value of shares improved to Rs16.28 billion from Rs13.38 billion in the previous session.

Kohinoor Spinning was the volume leader with 67.4 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 60.2 million shares, and K-Electric Ltd with 36.8 million shares.

Shares of 358 companies were traded on Monday, of which 184 registered an increase, 153 recorded a fall, while 21 remained unchanged.