The bulls remained active at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, tumbling records and overrunning the 187,000 barrier for the first time in history amid widespread buying, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
At 2:30 pm, the PSX’s benchmark index was hovering over 187,000 points, a gain of over 1,900 points or 0.92%. However, by the end of the day, the index settled at 186,518.71, up by 1,456.61 points or 0.78 percent.
Out of the total 563 companies traded today, share prices of 299 companies went up, 161 slided while 103 remained unchanged.
The buying rally was fuelled by the anticipation of another policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, scheduled to be held later this month.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, POL, PPL, PAOS, SSGC, WAFI, HBL, MEBL, NBP, and MCB, traded in the green.
On Tuesday, United Bank Limited (UBL) emerged as the largest listed company in Pakistan, with its market capitalisation reaching Rs1.28 trillion (US$4.6 billion), overtaking Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC).
On Tuesday, the index closed on a strong footing as sustained institutional buying pushed the benchmark index to a fresh all-time high, amid robust volumes. The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 2,653 points, or 1.45%, to close at a record 185,062 points.
Reporter Kavish Memon