KARACHI: The benchmark of top shares listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crossed the psychological barrier of 46,000 points on Monday in anticipation of the earnings announcements due this week.

Topline Securities said the bull run, which began after the signing of a $3 billion Stand-By Arrang­ement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund, propelled the KSE-100 index to a level not seen since April 25, 2022.

The index has gained 4,602 points or more than 11 per cent since the conclusion of the SBA.

Trading saw the index float within a band of 324 points — up 275 points and down 49 points — as investors opted to book partial profits in cyclical stocks. They also strengthened their positions in banking stocks ahead of the monetary policy announcement scheduled next week.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 46,054.81 points, up 134 points or 0.29pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 41pc to 299 million shares. The traded value went down 33pc to Rs8.1bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included World­Call Telecom Ltd (35.8m shares), K-Electric Ltd (32.4m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (31.4m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (13.4m shares) and Cnerg­yico PK Ltd (11.9m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs100), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs69), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs27.36), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs23) and Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs10.01).

Companies that reco­rded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs29.40), Siem­ens Paki­stan Engineering Ltd (Rs18.19), Gatron Indus­tries Ltd (Rs9.81), Honda Atlas Cars Paki­stan Ltd (Rs6.37) and Shezan International Ltd (Rs5.70).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purc­has­ed shares worth $0.9m.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2023