Bulls toss KSE-100 index over 47,000-point mark

• Stocks gain over 550 points to close the session at 47,198.28 points on Friday.
• Trading volume rise to 427.4 million shares compared to 396.4 million shares traded on Thursday (September 9).
• Shares of 528 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 308 stocks closed in the green, 203 in the red.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its upward march on Friday, aided by strong economic cues.

Resultantly, the benchmark KSE-100 index rose 573.17 points and once again surpassed the 47,000-point mark after a hiatus of six sessions.

The market players weighed sentiments on an encouraging remittances reading, which clocked-in at $2.65 billion in August 2021. The strong receipts motivated investors to assume fresh positions.

On the corporate front, Octopus Digital — a subsidiary of Avanceon Limited — received huge interest from investors, as it oversubscribed by 27 times — the highest since book building was introduced at the stock market — during the two-day book-building process at the PSX on Friday.

This is Pakistan's first tech initial public offering (IPO) in seven years and more money was offered than ever seen in any Pakistani IPO.

The KSE-100 index spiked as soon as the morning bell rang, and the momentum continued in the first half of the session, however, investors resorted to profit-booking towards the closing of the market, which erased a few of the gains by the end of the session. Bullish investor spirits helped the index end the day on a positive note.

The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 573.17 points or 1.23% on Friday, to close at 47,198.29 points.

Trading volume rose to 427.4 million shares compared to 396.4 million shares traded on Thursday (September 9).

During the session, shares of 528 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 308 stocks closed in the green, 203 in the red, and 17 remained unchanged.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 39.7 million shares, losing Rs0.25 to close at Rs24.69. It was followed by Service Fab (R) with 33.5 million shares, losing Rs0.61 to close at Rs2.78, and Maple Leaf Cement with 27 million shares, gaining Rs0.77 to close at Rs40.25.