Share prices snowball to new record high at Pakistan Stock Exchange

The government’s announcement to lower policy rate further overwhelmed the business at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the second consecutive day Thursday with share prices snowballing by another 900 points during the opening session taking the index to another record-making high, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

With the investors going all out for buying, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index climbed up by 899.01 points or 0.76 percent in the opening session to 117,907.09 points as compared to previous day’s close of 117,008.08 points.

However, by the end of the day, profit-taking eroded most of the gains of the day, as index inched up only by 111.57 points or 0.10 percent to 117,119.65 points.

Of the 463 companies traded, share prices of 192 companies went up and those of 225 went down while 46 remained unchanged.

Experts opined that the buyers’ interest has been fuelled by expectations of a further cut in the policy rate in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is anticipated later this month.

On Wednesday, the benchmark index had settled at 117,008.08, recording an increase of 1,881.18 points or 1.63%.

Experts maintained that the market showed an upward trajectory, supported by strong buying activity from local institutions.

Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobiles, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and pharmaceuticals.

Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, ENGRO, MCB and MEBL traded in the green.

Reporter Ayaz Rana