'Saudi package': Bulls dominate PSX as benchmark index adds 1,200 points

Karachi: Bulls dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as investors showed their interest after burshing aside the uncertanity regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and $3 billion funds from Saudi Arabia.    

The Friday's visit to PSX of Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin also turned out to be a a psoitive indicator for positive atmosphere at the first trading day. 

Investor optimism about the Saudi package was reflected at the bourse as market players took fresh positions on the back of an agreement that was signed between the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

Also fuelling the bullish sentiment was a decline in global oil prices as the benchmark KSE-100 index once again crossed the 45,000-point mark.

At the end, the benchmark KSE-100 index soared 1,215.89 points, or 2.76%, to close at 45,330.05.

Sectors contributing to the performance included commercial banks (+283 points), cement (+211 points), exploration and production (+139 points), fertiliser (+100 points) and oil marketing companies (+76 points).

Shares of 358 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 263 scrips closed in the green, 76 in the red, and 19 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 268.2 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 289.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.9 billion.

Fauji Foods, TPL Properties and WorldCall Telecom were the volume leaders with 14.8 million shares traded, 14.7 million shares, and 13.7 million shares respectively.

Fauji Foods lost Rs0.31 to close at Rs0.82, TPL Properties gained Rs2.57 to close at Rs45.80, while WorldCall Telecom gained Rs0.01 to close at Rs13.7.