KSE-100 hits new record high, smashes 54,000 barrier

KARACHI: Equities rebounded with full strength on Wednesday on the back of hopes of positive outcome from the current Pakistan-IMF talks.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)’s benchmark KSE-100 index resumed its bullish momentum after a brief dip in the previous session and surged by 525.70 points or 0.98% to close the session at another all-time high of 54,261.

The stock market witnessed correction a day earlier when investors booked profits after successive gains. The index traded in a range of 699.19 points showing an intraday high of 54,419.65 and a low of 53,720.46 points. The total volume of the KSE-100 Index recorded at 259.131 million shares.

“Stocks reached new all-time high led by scrips across the board as investor weigh positive Pak-IMF technical review talks and $600m China loan approvals for financing this month,” said Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at the Arif Habib Corp.

He said that speculations ahead of general elections on Feb 8, 2024 and government deliberations to resolve the gas circular debt created a catalyst role in bullish close.

Topline Securities said that Pakistan Stock Market regained its upward momentum after a short-lived dip in the previous session, closing at 54,261, marking a gain of 525 points, equivalent to a 0.98% increase. The market’s positive momentum was fuelled by power, fertilizer, banking and auto sectors with companies like HUBC, ENGRO, MEBL, HBL and MTL collectively contributing 208 points to the index. On the other hand, INDU, TRG, and PAEL together caused a loss of 54 points.

The PRL led the trading volume with 40.2 million shares. Overall, the market witnessed a trading volume of 481.6 million shares, amounting to a total value of Rs20.1 billion. It registered the highest trading volume recorded since November 30, 2021.

Of the 100 index companies, 75 closed up, 21 closed down, while 4 remained unchanged.

The KSE-100 index was supported by commercial banks with 186.16, power generation & distribution with 69.94, fertilizer with 65.37, oil & gas exploration companies with 55.71 and cement with 51.76 points.

Companies adding points to the index were HUBC with 51.02, ENGRO with 46.44, MEBL with 40.72, HBL with 35.93 and MTL with 33.65 points. All-share index closed at 36,146.66 with a net gain of 335.30 points.

The all-share index is now also close towards its all-time high closing of 36,240 points.

Total market volume stood at 482.745 million shares while traded value was recorded at Rs20.13 billion.