March 04, 2024 (MLN): Pakistan stock market closed at its highest level in almost three months as investors welcomed the return of Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister, who expressed the need to seek a new bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle the country's debt crisis.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged 626.04 points or 0.96% to close at  65,951.73 on Monday, the highest since mid-December 2023, as the political uncertainty eased.

Shehbaz Sharif was elected on Sunday as the prime minister of the country for a second term.

The index remained positive throughout the day, showing an intraday high of 66,007.44 (+681.75) and a low of 65,532.58 (+206.90) points.

The total volume of the KSE-100 index was 211.691 million shares.

The new government would need to secure a larger and longer loan of at least $6 billion from the IMF to meet its high debt obligations.

Shehbaz Sharif last month said that the country will need to secure a new loan at the earliest.

Pakistan needs a deep surgery to bring revolutionary changes in the system and reform various sectors, the newly elected prime minister said in parliament on Sunday.

"The country’s challenges are difficult but not impossible to resolve," he commented on the effort to pull Pakistan from the debt crisis.

Of the 100 index companies 57 closed up, 36 closed down, 3 were unchanged, while 4 remained untraded.

KSE-100 index was supported by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 369.64, Power Generation & Distribution with 68.96, Cement with 59.13, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 52.34, and Technology & Communication with 50.01 points.

On the contrary, the index was let down by Commercial Banks with 63.42, Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. with 18.62, Leather & Tanneries with 2.89, Sugar & Allied Industries with 2.21, and Glass & Ceramics with 1.93 points.

Companies adding points to the index were OGDC with 174.67, PPL with 139.12, MARI with 55.93, HUBC with 52.14, and LUCK with 45.25 points.

Meanwhile, companies that dragged the index lower were HBL with 29.47, MEBL with 24.69, HMB with 20.22, FFC with 16.72 and DAWH with 16.41 points.

In the broader market, the All-Share index closed at 43,689.06 with a net gain of 420.11 points.

Total market volume was 472.863 million shares compared to 344.227 from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs16.28 billion showing an increase of Rs2.89bn.

There were 183,267 trades reported in 355 companies with 184 closing up, 150 closing down and 21 remaining unchanged.

To note, the KSE-100 has gained 24,499 points or 59.1% during the fiscal year, whereas the ongoing calendar year has witnessed a cumulative increase of 3,501 points, equivalent to 5.61%.

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Posted on: 2024-03-04T16:23:50+05:00