ISLAMABAD: The buying spree continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, as the 100-index settled near the 110,000 benchmark, a new record high.
Earlier in the trading session, the benchmark index lost over 1,000 points, however, the market bounced back touching an intra-day high of 110,358.85.
At close the benchmark settled at 109,970.39 while gaining 916.44 more points with a positive change of 0.84 percent.
A total of 1,597,868,204 shares were entertained at the PSX during the day as compared to 1,697,842,022 shares the previous working day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 60.251 billion against Rs.57.487 billion on the last trading day.
As many as 467 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 278 of them registered gains, and 158 met losses, whereas the share price of 31 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were K-Electric with 164,514,973 shares at Rs 6.16 per share followed by WorldCall Telecom with 161,906,262 shares at Rs 1.83 per share whereas Cnergyico PK settled with 113,022,299 shares at Rs.7.13 per share.
Nestle Pakistan Limited recorded a maximum increase of Rs.671.59 per share price, closing at Rs.7,387.52, whereas Sazgar Engineering Works Limited was the runner-up with a Rs 95.01 increase in its per share price to Rs 1,156.40.
Lucky Core Industries Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 47.84 per share closing at Rs 1.094.88 followed by Thai Limited with a fall of Rs 21.39 to close at Rs.442.39.
Market analysts attribute the ongoing uptrend to positive investor sentiment, leading to the breaking of several recent records.
This sustained rise in the stock market reflects the collective optimism of investors, who view the performance of the PSX as a strong indicator of economic stability.
In the last two weeks, the Pakistan Stock Exchange has witnessed many record single-day gains. Extensive buying during the last week sent the index increasing by a record point-wise weekly gain of 7,697 points.
Commenting over the development, Yousuf M. Farooq, research director at Chase Securities said that interest rates, which were at an all-time high, have returned to normal levels, adding this development has rapidly brought stock valuations to more reasonable levels.
READ ALSO: UNSC to Discuss Syria After Assad’s Ouster
He was of the view that market interest rates, which stood at more than 20.5pc in June 2024, are now close to 12pc.
Expectations of an interest rate decrease in the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting on December 16 have also risen. Yousuf M. Farooq stated that he thought the rally would result in long-term market returns normalising, with investors expected to achieve returns close to historical long-term averages going forward.
However, he said, banks opened under pressure on Monday due to news reports hinting that the government is exploring additional means to tax banks, which are already contributing a significant portion of their income as taxes.
