The investors were undeterred by the massive terrorist attack in Karachi targeting foreigners as they went ahead with their buying spree at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) tossing the index to historic high of 84,000 and close to touching the 85,000 mark on Monday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The share prices surged by 1,378.34 points or 1.62% during the hectic trading lifting the benchmark KSE-100 index to ever-high of 84,910.19.
Experts were optimistic that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will lower the interest rate in next meeting of monetary committee amid sliding inflation.
On the last trading day on Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange had continued its upward trend, driven by strong buying interest, particularly in index-heavy banking and oil & gas stocks. The KSE-100-Index had gained 810.19 more points, a positive change of 0.98 percent, closing at 83,531.96 points against 82,721.77 points on the last working day.
A total of 381,529,555 shares were traded during the day as compared to 319,879,266 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs20.523 billion against Rs16.414 billion on the last trading day.
As many as 444 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 201 of them recorded gains and 167 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 76 companies remained unchanged.
There was notable buying activity in commercial banks, chemicals, real estate, and oil and gas exploration companies. Key index stocks such as MCB, MEBL, NBP, PPL, OGDC, and MARI all showed positive performance.
Reporter Ayyaz Rana