Stock market sees strong rally, index climbs more than 1,000 points in bullish session
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday gained more than 1,000 points, close to 2.3pc, to regain ground it lost last week.
The index settled at 46,274 points by Monday's close, slightly below the day's high of 46,332 points. It had dropped sharply after opening to the day's low of 44,710 points, but rebounded immediately after.
Close to 120.6 million shares of KSE-100 companies were traded during the session, with a total worth of Rs10.1 billion.
"Stocks closed bullish as investors speculated that the prime minister may be acquitted in the Panamagate case," observed veteran analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
"Mid-session support was seen in scrips across the board after fears waned over rupee depreciation and renewed foreign inflows," he added. "Likely payouts in blue-chip stocks and the Asian Development Bank's approval of $6bn development projects favoring steel and cement stocks played a catalyst role in the record close."
A total of 364 symbols were active on the PSX on Monday, out of which 273 closed green, 75 declined and 16 remained flat.
Activity was led by commercial banks, with engineering, technology, cement and chemical stocks rounding off the top 5 sectors traded.
Volumes were led by:
Bank of Punjab: 21.8m shares traded (+4.76pc)
TRG Pak Ltd: 16.8m shares traded (+4.98pc)
Summit Bank: 10m shares traded (+22.2pc)
Azgard Nine: 9.4m shares traded (+6.61pc)
Aisha Steel Mill: 9.3m shares traded (+5.12pc).