ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange observed a Bullish trend on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 170 points amid growing investor confidence and anticipation of a policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
During the session, the index climbed to an intraday high of 140,149.23. At close, the benchmark index settled at 139,380.05, showing an increase of 172.77 points or 0.12%.
Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and refinery traded in the green. Index-heavy stocks, including PRL, ARL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, SSGC, and SNGPL, traded in the green.
On Monday, a total of 589,306,106 shares were traded as compared to 634,805,882 shares on the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at PKR 34.562 billion against PKR 24.611 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 483 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 251 of them recorded gains and 205 met losses, whereas the share price of 27 companies remained unchanged.
During the past week, the market remained largely range-bound but managed to close on a positive note. Investors balanced macroeconomic indicators, expectations of monetary easing, and ongoing corporate earnings.
The KSE-100 Index gained 610 points, or 0.44% on a week-on-week (WoW) basis, closing at 139,207 points.
Global market trend
Global equities advanced on Monday, and the euro strengthened following a trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.
The deal boosted investor confidence and brought some clarity ahead of key policy meetings by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
Under the new framework agreement, the US imposed a 15% import tariff on most EU goods, half of the originally threatened rate.
This followed a similar trade accord reached with Japan the previous week, which reduced proposed tariffs on automobile imports.
With an August 1 deadline set by US President Donald Trump, countries are rushing to secure trade agreements.
In the US, S&P 500 futures climbed 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.5%. The euro gained strength across major currencies, appreciating against the dollar, pound, and yen.
European futures also showed strong momentum, advancing nearly 1%.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.27%, remaining close to a near four-year high reached last week.
Japan’s Nikkei, however, dipped 0.8% after hitting a one-year peak in the prior week.
