Pakistan’s stock market achieves new record high

WEB DESK: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a promising start this Wednesday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index achieved a historic milestone, surpassing the 75,000 mark for the first time ever.

However, as the day progressed, a wave of profit-taking emerged, causing the index to settle at 74,663.98 by the end of the trading session. This represented a modest increase of 132.79 points or 0.18 per cent.

Throughout the trading day, the index navigated a range of 674.45 points, reaching an intraday high of 75,115.33 (+584.14) and a low of 74,440.88 (-90.31) points.

Among the 100 index companies, 38 ended the day with gains, 55 experienced declines, 6 remained unchanged, while 1 remained untraded.

Driving the upward momentum of the KSE-100 index were sectors such as Commercial Banks, which contributed 369.87 points, followed by Automobile Parts & Accessories (34.37 points), Food & Personal Care Products (21.71 points), Fertilizer (13.14 points), and Cement (8.86 points).

Conversely, sectors such as Pharmaceuticals (-64.34 points), Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (-43.42 points), Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (-41.99 points), Leather & Tanneries (-36.55 points), and Power Generation & Distribution (-26.5 points) exerted downward pressure on the index.

Among the individual companies, those making significant positive contributions to the index included BAHL (103.01 points), UBL (93.04 points), MEBL (70.69 points), MCB (45.94 points), and EFERT (38.44 points).

Conversely, companies such as PPL (-50.6 points), SRVI (-36.55 points), HINOON (-32.58 points), ENGRO (-29.21 points), and PSO (-21.85 points) weighed down the index.

Overall, despite the fluctuations and profit-taking observed during the trading session, the PSX demonstrated resilience and ended the day on a positive note, reflecting investor confidence in the market.

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