The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday achieved an all-time high as a bull run allowed the KSE-100, the benchmark index of the PSX, to reach an intraday high of 120,796.67 points. The PSX managed to record this historic high despite the country being slapped with a 29 percent tariff by United States (US) President Donald Trump.
Reports have attributed the hike in the PSX to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s 12 percent cut in residential power rates — which unlocked a Rs7.41 per unit relief for the general public. Power rates for industrialists have also been slashed by a liberal 13 percent, reviving business and investor confidence in domestic industries.
News of the power cut caused the KSE-100 index to peak at 10:01 AM after which profit taking took hold of the market for exactly one hour, causing it to hit a low of 119,417.12 points at 11:01 AM.
The index slightly recovered later, climbing to 119,705.68 points before trading activities were suspended from 12 PM to 2:30 PM. A large selloff was recorded post Friday prayers when trading activities resumed, causing the index to drop to an intraday low of 118,718.26 points at 4:06 PM, eventually closing the trading day in the red at 118,791.66 points.
For reference, the KSE-100 closed at 118,938.11 points on Thursday after which the index shrank by 0.12 percent during trading hours on Friday with a 146.45 point drop.
Of the 17 indexes on the PSX, 11 remained in the red with the All-share index (ALLSHR) tumbling by 77.61 points – 0.1 percent decline. Unlike the KSE-100, which tracks the performance of the 100 largest and most liquid companies, the ALLSHR index records the performance of all publicly listed companies on the PSX.
While the PSX closed in the red today, historical data from the PSX reveals that ALLSHR index has shot up by a staggering 64.03 percent over just one year with the KSE-100 recording an even greater rise of 73.61 percent over a one-year period – a growth rate which many would categorise as nothing short of meteoric. Moreover, the Year-to-Date (YTD) change for ALLSHR and KSE-100 index recorded improvements, sitting at 2.36 percent and 3.18 percent, respectively.
A vast array of companies witnessed a rise in share prices with Oilboy Energy Limited (OBOYR2) and Mughal Iron Steel Industries Limited (MUGHALR2) winning big – to the tune of growth rates that sat at 33.33 percent (OBOYR2) and 19.96 percent (MUGHALR2).
However, not every publicly listed stock witnessed an improvement as many companies witnessed sharp declines. Of these declining companies, the one that fared the worst during intra-day trading was United Distributors Pakistan Limited (UDPL) which posted a 9.5 percent decline in its position.
Trading volume of regular stocks stood at 553,250,208 shares, translating into a total value of over Rs35.4 billion.