Pakistan stock market achieves all-time high

Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) closed at its all-time high on Friday above historic levels of 16,000 as investors anticipated cut in monetary policy statement following lower inflation figures for the month of October. The benchmark KSE 100-Index jumped by 0.87 percent or 139.18 points to close at 16,101.55 levels on Friday as against Thursday' s 15,962.37 as investors remained upbeat over the next monetary policy announcement. During the four-day week which culminated on Friday, the KSE 100-Index jumped by 288.83 points to achieve the highest-ever levels in the history of the Exchange. The KSE 100-Index lost 16. 79 points on Tuesday after a long weekend owing to Eid-ul-Adha holidays but reversed the trends in the following three trading sessions where it surged by 114.18 points to close at 15,910.11 levels on Wednesday, swelled by 52.26 points to end at 15,962.37 levels on Wednesday, before jumping by139.18 points to finish the day and week at 16,101.55 levels on Friday. The KSE All Share Index surged by 0.83 percent or 93.50 points to end at 11,293.96 levels, the KSE 30-Index bolstered by 1.02 percent or 133.21 points to conclude at 13,209.25 levels, whereas the KMI 30-Index ballooned by 1.18 percent or 330.86 points to finish the day and week at 28,314.86 levels here. The Karachi Stock Exchange started the final trading session of the week amid keen interest of investors who derived their confidence from the reduced inflation numbers for the month of October. Market volumes swelled further by 2.304 million shares to 191. 494 million shares on Friday as against 189.190 million shares on Thursday as investors kept their interest alive in the post- holidays sessions at the country's top bourse. During the week under review, the Karachi bourse recorded a total of 601.513 million shares at daily average turnovers of 150. 378 million shares. The KSE witnessed trading of 84.993 million shares on Tuesday, 135.836 million shares on Wednesday, 189.19 million shares on Thursday, and 191.494 million shares on Friday. Market capitalization augmented by 32.998 billion rupees (347. 356 million U.S. dollars) to 4.013 trillion rupees (42.24 billion U.S. dollars) on Friday when compared with market capitalization worth 3.980 trillion rupees (41.89 billion U.S. dollars) reported the other day. As per the figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited for Thursday, foreign investors came up with net buying worth 580 million rupees (6.105 million U.S. dollars). This compared with 523.266 million rupees (5.508 million U.S. dollars) of net buy done by foreign investors during the of four-day last week. In broader market, a total of 351 companies changed hands on Friday where prices of 182 issues advanced in the green territory, 145 nosedived into the red ink, whereas values of 24 other scrips stayed unchanged at previous day's levels. As the cement sector remained in the limelight during the intraday trade on Friday, Fauji Cement emerged as the top traded company of the day with trading of 49.093 million shares in its scrip thus constituting over one-fourth of the total trade. It was followed by Dewan Cement, Fatima Fertilizer Company, Pace Pakistan Limited, Maple Leaf Cement, Lafarge Pakistan, and Nishat Mills Limited, with turnovers of 9.643 million shares, 8.478 million shares, 8.392 million shares, 7.284 million shares, 5.945 million shares, and 5.921 million shares, respectively. UniLever Pakistan was the top price jumper of the day as its per share price grew by 475.30 rupees (5 U.S. dollars) to close at 9,985.30 rupees (105.11 U.S. dollars) while Bata Pakistan XD led the major losers with a decline of 74.25 rupees (0.78 U.S. dollars) per share to finish at 1,410.75 rupees (14.85 U.S. dollars).