KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week with a boom as the indices rallied amid improved economic indicators. Foreign investors offloaded equities worth $8.06 million in the preceding week (November 25- 29, 2019).
On the economic front, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood stated that Pakistan’s exports rose to $2.02 billion while imports declined to $3.81 billion in November 2019, a 36pc contraction when compared with the same month of last year.
Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service on Monday affirmed Pakistan’s local and foreign currency long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings at “B3”, changing the country’s outlook from negative to stable.
Gaining 856.47 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,144.12 (crossing the 40,000-mark after a period of 10 months). The index settled higher by 836.57 points at 40,124.22. The KMI-30 Index appreciated by 513.30 points or 0.81pc to end at 63,227.25, while the KSE All Share Index gained 432.93 points, closing at 28,271.45.
The overall trading volumes surged to 557.39 million on Monday. The Bank of Punjab (BOP +6.71pc) led the volume chart, followed by K-Electric Limited (KEL +9.29pc) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +0.99pc). The scripts had exchanged 74.93 million, 40.85 million and 37.70 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that helped the index accumulate gains included banking (+515.90 points), power generation & distribution (+72.57 points) and oil & marketing (+52.84 points). On the other hand, the oil & gas exploration sector (-83.45 points) continued to hurt the index.
The banking sector gained +4.52pc in its total market capitalization. Habib Bank Limited (HBL +5.00pc), MCB Bank Limited (MCB +5.00pc) and United Bank Limited (UBL +5.00pc) touched their upper circuit breakers.
