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The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended Tuesday on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 137 points, or 0.27 per cent, by the close of the trading session to reach 51,073.
After closing yesterday’s session just short of the 51,000 barrier, the benchmark index crossed the threshold today, with commercial banking stocks leading volumes once again.
191 million shares changed hands by the end of the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs17.4 billion.
"Stocks closed on new highs led by banking and auto scrips on strong earnings outlook," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
"Mid-session pressure was witnessed in overbought cement and oil stocks amid weak global crude prices and concerns over Moody's [...] dismal predictions over external debt," he said.
"Record quarter-end corporate earnings in auto, banking and pharma stocks played a catalyst role in [the] higher close," he added.
"As key MSCI-Emerging Markets [stocks]’s valuations start to stretch (especially banks), investors will likely focus on small caps stocks from the MSCI Pakistan Index," said Topline Securities in an analyst note.
"Going forward, we expect the market to face resistance at today’s high (51,489 points) on its upward journey," the firm said.
Stocks of 397 companies were traded on the PSX, of which 172 gained in value, 211 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by:
TRG Pak Ltd: 36m shares traded [+2.90pc];
K-Electric Ltd: 21.5m shares traded [-1.39pc];
Engro Polymer: 16.4m shares traded [-1.42pc];
Aisha Steel Mill: 14.1m shares traded [-1.06pc]; and,
Bank of Punjab: 13.2m shares traded [-1.74pc].
