Pakistan Stock Exchange Hits Historic High Above 93,000 Mark

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) achieved a significant milestone on Friday, November 8, 2024, as the benchmark KSE-100 index surged past the 93,000-point mark for the first time in its history. The index closed at 93,291.68 points, marking a 0.83% increase or a gain of 771.19 points from the previous day’s close of 92,520.49 points.

The bullish trend was driven by several key factors, including a decline in yields on fixed-income instruments and improvements in macroeconomic indicators. Analysts at Topline Securities noted that the increase in Pakistan’s inward workers’ remittances for October 2024, which stood at $3.052 billion (a 24% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month increase), also contributed to the market’s optimism.

Trading activities saw a significant boost, with a total of 763.25 million shares traded during the day, compared to 678.78 million shares the previous day. The total traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 30.2 billion from Rs 24.82 billion in the previous session.

The market’s strength was further bolstered by the increase in Pakistan’s weight in the MSCI Frontier Market Small Cap Index to 4.4%, which is expected to attract more foreign investors. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation highlighted that falling bank lending rates and government bond yields played a crucial role in the record bullish activity at the PSX.

Key sectors such as automobile manufacturing, cement, commercial banking, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, and power generation saw significant buying activity. Top gainers included Hoechst Pakistan and Unilever Pakistan Foods, while Pakistan Engineering Company and Shifa International Hospitals were among the top losers.

Despite the overall bullish trend, foreign investors remained on the selling side, withdrawing $2.518 million from the local equity market. However, the total market capitalization increased by Rs 101 billion to Rs 11.977 trillion.