KARACHI: Trading began on Monday on a positive note with the benchmark index closing just shy of the psychological milestone of 60,000 points.

Arif Habib Corporation analyst Ahsan Mehanti said stocks traded at another all-time high amid institutional interest in buying companies across the board. Investors reacted positively to strong economic data on the falling current account deficit and surging foreign remittances.

Meanwhile, the imminent disbursement of the loan tranche by the International Monetary Fund and expected deliberations over the Special Investment Facilitation Council initiatives during the prime minister’s visit to the United Arab Emirates played the role of a catalyst in the record surge in the KSE-100 index.

According to JS Global Capital Ltd, the rebalancing of MSCI indices along with the expectation of an interest rate cut also helped produce positive momentum on the bourse.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 59,811.34 points after gaining 724.99 points or 1.23 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume remained flat at 657.6 million shares. The traded value decreased 7.9pc to Rs20.2 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (109.4m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (43.3m shares), Yousuf Weaving Mills Ltd (22.7m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (17.8m shares) and D.G. Khan Cement Ltd (15.6m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs88.11), Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs75.12), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs64.96), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs61.60) and Blessed Textiles Ltd (Rs24).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs117.50), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs91.97), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs45.56), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs43) and Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs31.25).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $4.17m.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2023