PSX continues to make gains, crosses 56,000 milestone

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to make gains as it peaked at an all-time high by crossing the 56,000 mark on Monday. 

The benchmark KSE-100 index reached an intraday high of 56,583.59 points. However, it closed at 56,523.58 points after gaining 1,132.22 points or 2.04%, up from the previous close of 55,391.36 points.

Capital market expert Saad Ali told Thenews.com.pk that the market was extending last week's gains as the IMF concluded technical talks without any issue.

"There are no signs of the IMF disallowing rate cuts," he added.

The IMF’s mission began its review of Pakistan’s bailout package on November 2 and is expected to conclude by December 15.

The review will determine whether Pakistan will receive the second tranche of $700 million in December. The country received $1.2 billion in July from the global lender as the first instalment of the standby arrangement.

Last week, the benchmark index set a new milestone after it jumped past the 55,000 barrier on the ongoing IMF review, domestic institutional buying, and reducing Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields.

Overall trading volumes increased to 660.6 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 640.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs22.4 billion.

Shares of 385 companies were traded. Of these, 220 stocks closed higher, 147 fell, and 18 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader trading in 100.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs1.37. It was followed by Cnergyico PK with 60.7 million shares, losing Rs0.08 to close at Rs4.70, and Hum Network with 32.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs7.25.