The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a remarkable rally on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 4,411.27 points, closing at 113,924.41, marking a 4.03% gain. This was the second-largest single-day increase in the index’s history in terms of points.
The session maintained positive momentum, with the KSE-100 hitting an intraday high of 114,189.71 points. Key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, fertilisers, oil and gas exploration, and power generation saw across-the-board buying. Prominent stocks such as HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, and HBL traded in the green.
The rally followed the central bank’s recent policy rate cut by 200 basis points, reducing the rate to 13%, marking a cumulative decline of 900 basis points from its peak. According to brokerage house Topline Securities, the market rebounded from last week’s losses, spurred by speculation that mutual fund selling had subsided.
Equities have significantly outperformed other asset classes in Pakistan this year, with the KSE-100 delivering a 75% gain in 2024, including dividends, according to a report by Topline. The PSX had faced pressure the previous week, with the KSE-100 plummeting by 4,788.65 points in a single day, due to year-end profit-taking and mutual fund sell-offs.
The Pakistani rupee showed a marginal decline, depreciating by 0.05% to close at 278.57 against the U.S. dollar in the inter-bank market.
Market activity saw an increase in volumes, with 857.83 million shares traded compared to 754.92 million in the previous session. The total value of shares traded rose to Rs50.55 billion, up from Rs39.42 billion.
WorldCall Telecom led the volumes with 71.05 million shares traded, followed by Cnergyico PK at 66.47 million shares, and Pak Elektron at 38.65 million shares. Out of 463 companies traded, 361 registered gains, 62 saw declines, while 40 remained unchanged.
