ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued with its record-breaking streak on Thursday settling above the 108,000 benchmark with a gain of over 3,000 points.
At close, the trading house was hovering at 108,238.96, with an increase of 3,134.63 points or 2.98%.
The investors have shown interest in key sectors including oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery, power generation, fertilizer, and commercial banks.
The positive trend is largely attributed to growing investor optimism ahead of the upcoming monetary policy meeting scheduled for December 16, 2024, where a substantial rate cut is expected.
On Thursday a total of 1,647,134,799 shares were entertained during the day as compared to 1,749,316,877 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs63.229 billion against Rs50.416 billion on the last working day.
As many as 473 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 307 of them registered gains and 129 met losses, whereas the share price of 37 companies remained constant.
The three top trading companies at the PSX were Bank of Punjab with 163,462,276 shares at Rs10.09 per share followed by WorldCall Telecom with 150,476,152 shares at Rs1.59 per share and Cnergyico PK settled with 86,659,730 shares at Rs.6.87 per share.
Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited experienced a maximum increase of Rs481.08 per share price, closing at Rs20,681.08, whereas Sapphire Fibres Limited was the runner-up with Rs101.64 rise in its per share price to Rs1,214.02.
Hafiz Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs24.27 per share closing at Rs 238.23 followed by Fateh Sports Wear Limited with a fall of Rs11.20 to close at Rs100.77.
According to experts exchange rate stability, a transition from one $3-billion arrangement to another longer facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), improvement in index-heavy sector’s earnings, and a general mood for stocks have been just a few factors behind the PSX phenomenal rise.
It is pertinent to mention that the core inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) decelerated further to 4.9 percent during November 2024 as compared to 7.2 percent in October 2024 said Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
