Pakistan Stock Exchange closes above 80,000 mark for the first time in history

Bulls dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, propelling the benchmark KSE-100 index to a record-breaking high above the 80,000 mark.

The KSE-100 index closed at an unprecedented 80,233.67 points, up 680.79 points or 0.86 per cent from the previous session.

Throughout the trading day, the index fluctuated within a range of 707.98 points, reaching an intraday peak of 80,405.23 points and dipping to a low of 79,697.25 points. The total volume of shares traded in the KSE-100 index was 280.09 million.

Out of the 100 companies on the index, 65 ended the day in positive territory, 31 closed lower, and 4 remained unchanged.

This surge comes as Pakistan seeks to finalise a staff-level agreement for a $6 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, having met all the lender’s requirements in its recent budget, according to the junior finance minister, Reuters reported.

Key sectors driving the index higher included Commercial Banks (+274.44 points), Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (+161.35 points), Power Generation & Distribution (+87.90 points), Cement (+87.45 points), and Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (+68.34 points).

Conversely, the index faced headwinds from the Fertilizer sector (-102.98 points), Tobacco (-32.38 points), Engineering (-29.42 points), Automobile Assembler (-12.75 points), and Automobile Parts & Accessories (-6.91 points).