PSX Soars to Record High Again as KSE-100 Closes Just Shy of 89,000 Mark

The Pakis­tan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its record-setting spree for the fourth straight session on Thursday, taking the KSE-100 index just shy of 89,000 points.  The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 1751.45 points to close at an all-time high of 88,945.98 points compared to the previous closing of 87,194.53 points.  Topline Securities CEO Mohammed Sohail said the surge due to aggressive institutional buying amid hope of big rate cuts in November and December monetary policy meetings.  The next two monetary policy meetings are scheduled for November 4, 2024, and December 16, 2024.  Sohail highlighted that a record volume of Rs. 53 billion ($190m) was traded at PSX in the cash and futures market signaling, improving the confidence of investors.  Brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) highlighted that the over 1,700 points increase marked the fifth-largest one-day points gain in the index’s history. A total of 757,648,007 shares were traded during the day as compared to 699,294,030 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs. 36.047 billion against Rs. 26.824 billion on the last trading day. As many as 453 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 237 of them recorded gains and 167 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 49 companies remained unchanged.   The three top trading companies were K-Electric Limited with 113,202,208 shares, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTC) with 41,105,281 shares and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) with 23,272,920 shares.