KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 527.87 points or 1.30% to settle at 41,049.91 on Thursday.
Earlier, the index gained over 600 points in intra-day trading. The KSE-100 index dipped soon after trading began, but buying momentum later helped reverse the trend. The index marched upwards on expected decisions in a cabinet meeting on measures to narrow the current account deficit and reduce the income tax exemption threshold set by the previous government.
Investors continued to buy stocks of banks, fertiliser and oil and gas exploration companies, which helped the index surpass the 41,000-point mark.
Maple Leaf Cement (-0.2%) had impressive trading volumes of around 22 million shares on reported crossings between institutional investors at a price of around Rs51 per share. It was followed by strong buying in Lucky Cement (+2.6%), DG Khan Cement (+3.9%) and Pioneer Cement (+5%).
Overall, trading volumes increased to 149 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 137 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.7 billion.
Shares of 380 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 259 stocks closed higher, 99 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 21.9 million shares, losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs51.06. It was followed by Unity Foods with 11 million shares, losing Rs2 to close at Rs38.16 and K-Electric with 8.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.10 to close at Rs5.37.
