KARACHI
\nPakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains on Friday and the benchmark KSE-100 index closed the session at its highest ever level at 53,123.03 points with a gain of 466.27 points (+0.89 percent).
\nIt is important to mention that the previous highest closing at 52,876 points was witnessed on May 24, 2017 when the intraday high had been recorded at 53,127. However, during the session on Friday, the intraday high was recorded at 53,263.07 points. Moreover, market capitalization stood at Rs2.64 trillion or $25.2 billion on May 24, 2017, while current market capitalization for the index stands at Rs1.76 trillion or $6.18 billion. The market capitalization in US dollar terms has fallen by around 75 percent mainly due to the depreciation of the rupee exchange rate, which has plummeted from Rs104.86 per dollar to 284.3 per dollar.
\nThe market opened on a positive note and remained in the green throughout the session. However, profit-taking checked in and stayed for some time. Later, the bulls took back control of the market to close the index at the highest level of its history.
\nExperts said investors rejoiced over improved corporate profitability, and the government\u2019s decision to raise gas tariffs, which is expected to boost the profitability of the energy sector. The positive sentiment was fuelled by an expected favorable International Monetary Fund (IMF) review that is underway, they added. A successful IMF review will pave the way for a $700 million instalment.
\nThe benchmark index traded in a range of 480.86 points, showing an intraday high of 53,263.07 points and an intraday low of 52,782.21 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 373.09 points (+1.05 percent) to close at 35,434.60 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 325.42 points (+1.25 percent) to close at 25,972.97 points. The KSE All Share Index has neither breached its intraday all-time high of 36,389.5 nor its all-time high closing of 36,240 points yet.
\nTotal volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 32.89 million to 215.88 million shares against 182.99 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 34.02 million shares to 509.11 million shares against 475.09 million shares traded a session earlier.
\nAmong scrips, KOSM topped the volumes with 43.17 million shares, followed by PRL (41.82 million) and TPLP (29.06 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KOSM, PRL, TPLP, PIBTL, and WTL, which formed around 29 percent of total volumes.
\nA total of 365 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 349 a session earlier, out of which shares of 225 closed up, shares of 115 companies closed down while shares of 25 companies remained unchanged. A total of 87 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which share prices of 64 companies closed up, 21 closed down and two remained unchanged.
\nThe number of total trades increased to 202,991 from 186,232 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs1.01 billion to Rs15.59 billion against Rs14.58 billion in the previous session.
\nIn terms of rupee, RMPL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs194.9 (+2.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,995. The runner-up remained NESTLE, the share price of which climbed up by Rs100 (+1.39 percent) to Rs7,300. UPFL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs350 (-1.54 percent) per share, closing at Rs22,400, followed by MEHT, the share price of which fell by Rs29.03 (-5.66 percent) to close at Rs483.5 per share.
\nThe major sectors taking the index towards north remained commercial banks (120 points), power generation & distribution (78 points), pharmaceuticals (54 points), oil & gas exploration companies (39 points), and food & personal care products (33 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained MEBL (87 points), HUBC (81 points), OGDC (24 points), FFC (23 points), and LUCK (22 points).
\nThe sectors taking the index towards south were leather & tanneries (14 points), fertilizer (8 points), and cable & electrical goods and synthetic & rayon (2 points each). The major companies depriving the index of points remained HBL (24 points), ENGRO (23 points), POL (16 points), SRVI (14 points), and MLCF (9 points).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains on Friday and the benchmark KSE-100 index closed the session at its highest ever level at 53,123.03 points with a gain of 466.27 points (+0.89 percent). It is important to mention that the previous highest closing at 52,876 points was witnessed on May 24, 2017 when the intraday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[205],"class_list":{"0":"post-365885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-psx"},"yoast_head":"\n