ISLAMABAD: After a week of volatility, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) observed an upward trajectory on Monday and gained 4,411.27 points, marking the second-largest single-day increase.
At close, the KSE-100 index settled at 113,924.41 showing an increase of 4.03%.
The buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and power generation.
Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PSO, SSGC, SNGP, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL, and UBL traded in the green.
The buying momentum was driven by several indicators including the central bank’s decision to cut the policy rate by 200bps, in line with expectations, bringing the rate down to 13%.
On Monday 857,834,976 shares were entertained at the PSX during the day as compared to 754,917,969 shares the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 50.549 billion against Rs.39.424 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 463 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 361 of them registered gains and 62 met losses, whereas the share price of 40 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were WorldCall Telecom with 71,053,052 shares at Rs 1.72 per share followed by Cnergyico PK with 66,471,663 shares at Rs 6.79 per share whereas Pak Elektron settled with 38,651,653 shares at Rs.40.73 per share.
Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Limited registered a maximum increase of Rs.69.00 per share price, closing at Rs 759.00, whereas Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited was the runner-up with a Rs 59.87 rise in its per share price to Rs 9,250.00.
Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 299.80 per share closing at Rs 21,100.00 followed by Sapphire Textile Mills Limited with a fall of Rs 46.70 to close at Rs.1,88.30.
During the previous week, the PSX remained under immense pressure due to heavy selling mainly by mutual funds and year-end profit-taking by institutions. The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 4,788.65 points weekly and closed at 109,513.15 points.
Meanwhile, Asian markets rose Monday after big gains on Wall Street, with traders welcoming below-forecast US inflation data that tempered worries that the Federal Reserve will take a harsh tone with interest rates next year.
