PSX Gains 365 Points on Expectations of Policy Rate Cut 

The 100-Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday turned around to bullish trend, gaining 365.82 points, a positive change of 0.47 percent, closing at 79,017.62 points against 78,651.80 points on the last working day.  In a short note, brokerage house Topline Securities highlighted that equities opened on a bullish note ahead of the key Monetary Policy Meeting, scheduled for announcement later in the evening.  It said that broad-based buying was observed in blue-chip stocks, driven by widespread market expectations of a 100-150 basis points reduction in interest rates, backed by declining inflation and improved macroeconomic indicators. It is important to mention here that after the market closed, SBP announced a 200 basis points cut in interest rate to 17.5 percent A total of 584,276,012 shares were traded during the day as compared to 532,732,689 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs. 16.364 billion against Rs. 14.735 billion on the last trading day.   As many as 439 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 212 of them recorded gains and 167 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 60 companies remained unchanged.  The three top trading companies were Kohinoor Spinning with 60,745,513 shares at Rs 8.87 per share, WorldCall Telecom with 57,978,199 shares at Rs. 1.43 per share and TPL Properties with 32,499,453 shares at Rs. 9.35 per share.  Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs.49.07 per share price, closing at Rs. 918.78, whereas the runner-up was Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited with a Rs. 48.00 rise in its per share price to Rs. 17,440.00.  Mari Petroleum Company Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs. 83.34 per share closing at Rs. 3,502.86 followed by Pakistan Engineering Company Limited with Rs. 37.77 decline to close at Rs. 872.00.