The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday witnessed a massive 1357-point rally, allowing the benchmark index of the exchange, KSE-100 index, to cross record 125,700 points.

 

According to reports, shares climbed rapidly on Monday as China rolled over $3.4 billion in debt to Pakistan, deciding to refinance a whopping $1.3 billion in commercial loans. Moreover, details from reports indicate that China also rolled over $2.1 billion which the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has held in its reserves for the past three years. This allowed the SBP to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $14 billion reserve target.

 

Investor sentiment witnessed a boost because of the aforementioned developments, allowing the KSE-100 index to open in the green in the early hours of the day, with the upwards momentum continuing until closing hours. The index reached an intraday high of 125,748.58 points. The index peaked at approximately 3:01 PM, after which the market closed at a lower, yet respectable, 125,627.31 points.

 

For reference, the KSE-100 closed at 124,379.06 points on Friday, after which the index recorded a growth of one percent during trading hours on Monday, leading to a 1,248.25-point rise. The market displayed a slowdown around 10:21 AM as the KSE-100 hit its intraday trading low of 124,500.20 points.

 

Of the 18 indexes listed on the exchange, 15 remained in the green with the All-Share Index (ALLSHR) growing by 1.16 percent, which translates into a 904.90-point rise in the index. Unlike the KSE-100, which tracks the performance of the 100 largest and most liquid companies, the ALLSHR index records the performance of all publicly listed companies on the PSX.

 

A number of companies witnessed a rise in share prices with Paramount Spinning Mills Limited (PASM) and Yousaf Weaving Mills Limited (YOUW) achieving growth rates of 24.81 percent and 21.32 percent, respectively. 

 

However, not every publicly listed stock witnessed an improvement as many witnessed sharp declines. Among these, the one that fared the worst during intraday trading was First Equity Modaraba (FEM), which recorded a sharp 13.52 percent downward correction after being a top gainer in the previous trading session.

 

Trading volume of regular stocks stood at a colossal 1,366,050,133 shares, translating into a total value of approximately Rs41.6 billion.