Bulls continued to dominate the trading at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with investors with brisk buying drove the index to a record high of over 80,000 in the morning session on Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index shot up by nearly 800 points in no time. As the optimism about a new loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is getting momentum amid the dividend season, the index soared by 671.09 points or 0.84 percent to 80,223.97. On Tuesday, the KSE-100 had settled above the 79,000 level for the first time in history. During the trading session, the benchmark index accumulated gains all day long while volume appreciated as compared to the previous session. At close on Tuesday, the KSE-100 index settled at 79,552.89, an increase of 728.55 points or 0.92%. Across-the-board buying was witnessed among index-heavy sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and pharmaceuticals.

Index-heavy stocks including PSO, SHEL, SNGPL, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, NBP and MCB settled in green. In a key development, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that prior actions for the IMF loan programme are largely complete, adding some structural benchmarks will also be met as Islamabad moves ahead to secure a larger and long-term deal. The minister said that the upcoming IMF deal should be referred to as a “Pakistan programme” for implementing structural reforms needed to transform the country’s economy. Volume on the all-share index increased to 413.15 million from 306.04 million in the previous session. The value of shares rose to Rs16.6 billion from Rs13.7 billion in the last session. WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader on Tuesday with 23.8 million shares, followed by K-Electric Limited with 23.1 million shares, and National BankXD with 20.13 million shares. Shares of 431 companies were traded, of which 246 registered an increase, 128 recorded a fall, while 57 remained unchanged.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan