KSE-100 Index up 952.80 points as share prices rally

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a huge boost on Thursday as the KSE-100 Index closed at 34,111.64 after gaining 952.80 points.

It was a bright start from the very beginning as the shares prices of companies in nearly all sectors went up.

The latest surge means the losses suffered since January 1 were reduced to 16.26 percent. The KSE-100 was down to 27,228.80 on March 25 but since then has been witnessing an overall trend of recovery.

During the past 52 weeks, the index has ranged between 27,046.71 and 43,468.22.

A total of 250 companies saw their share prices going up. Meanwhile, the value of 83 has shrunk and that of 13 remained unchanged.

During the trading, all the major sectors – cement, oil and gas, refinery, fertilizer, banking and others – boosted the confidence of investors by making significant gains.

This strong performance came as shares in the US and Asia had risen on hopes that an experimental drug could help treat symptoms of Covid-19.

A leading US infectious disease expert said that early results of a clinical trial on anti-viral treatment remdesivir were "quite good news".

In the morning trade, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up by 2.6 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 1.7 percent higher.

That came on the back of strong gains for US stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2.2 percent higher, the S&P 500 ended up by 2.7 percent and the NASDAQ gained 3.6 percent.