KARACHI: The stock market continued its upward trajectory, with the KSE-100 index surpassing the 94,000 mark during intraday trading for the first time on Monday. However, profit-taking in the latter part of the session trimmed some of the early gains as discussions commenced with a visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team regarding economic performance, particularly tax collection. Despite this, the index still closed at a record high.
The benchmark KSE-100 index reached an intraday peak of 94,020.03, gaining 758.35 points. It eventually settled at 93,648.33, up by 356.64 points or 0.38% from the previous day.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation noted that stocks hit an all-time high, driven by blue-chip scrips on IMF calls for the privatization of state-owned enterprises and anticipated foreign interest following the revision of the MSCI standard index weight to 4.4%. He added that the stability of the rupee and declining bank lending rates, following a drop in bond yields, further fueled bullish momentum at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
Topline Securities Ltd reported that the index was bolstered by positive contributions from Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Abbott Laboratories, The Searle Company, and GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Limited, which collectively added 399 points.
The trading volume increased by 6.8% to 815.18 million shares, with its value rising by 23.56% to Rs37.32 billion day-on-day.
Significant contributors to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK (98.60 million shares), Pak Elektron (78.09 million shares), K-Electric (70.18 million shares), WorldCall Telecom (31.95 million shares), and Bank of Punjab (33.73 million shares).
The shares registering the most significant price increases in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize (Rs211.95), Abbott Lab (Rs87.42), Bhanero Textile (Rs78.12), Haleon Pakistan (Rs68.80), and Pakistan Engineering Company (Rs67.04).
Conversely, companies that experienced significant losses in their share prices included Ismail Industries (Rs87.46), Sapphire Fibres (Rs60.29), Unilever Foods (Rs52.99), Khyber Textile (Rs46.87), and Sazgar Engineering Works (Rs25.46).
Mutual funds acquired shares worth $1.42 million, while foreign investors turned net sellers, offloading shares worth $0.06 million.
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