PSX Gains Over 800 Points to Surge Past 109,000 Level 

The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) gained 814.99 points on Friday to close at an all-time high of 109,053.95 points, up 0.75 percent over the previous closing.   Yesterday the KSE-100 index posted its third highest-ever single-day gain as it went up by 3,134.63 points.   Brokerage house Topline Securities attributed today’s rally to news that Saudi Arabia has agreed to extend the $3 billion deposit held in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for another year offering essential assistance to Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.  The KSE-100 Index surged by 7.6 percent over the previous week. Topline attributed the weekly gain to persistent buying by mutual funds on account of more allocation towards equity on the backdrop of declining yields on fixed income securities, as inflation number continue to decline.  Brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) highlighted that both weekly average traded volume and value hit an all-time high of 1.7 billion shares and Rs. 55 billion during the week.  A total of 1,697,842,022 shares were traded during the day as compared to 1,645,112,614 shares the previous day. The price of shares stood at Rs. 57.487 billion against Rs. 63.104 billion on Thursday  468 companies transacted their shares in the stock market today with 233 of them recording gains and 200 sustaining losses, whereas the share price of 35 companies remained unchanged.