KSE-100 Index surges over 50,250 in another bullish run

Trading continued in the greener pastures on January 25, as Pakistan’s KSE-100 Index reached 50,253 points at 9:39 AM local time, marking the newest record-high in the stock market’s unrelenting bullish mood.

The benchmark index gained 284 points almost 40 minutes after the opening bell on Wednesday, smashing its yesterday’s record-high of 50,049 points. However, profit taking swayed the index which at the end of the day closed at 49,756 points. Market participation for the day remained on the lower end with 459 million shares being traded against the 10 days moving average of 449mn shares. Market capitalization was down from Rs 25 billion  to Rs 9951 billion.

The trend observed over the past few weeks has been upward, with the market hovering in 1,000-point brackets for 2-3 days on average. In 2016, KSE-100 Index shot up 14,990 points, and produced a 46 percent return, which was above-average.

SECP chairman Zafar Hijazi commented, “When market is showing a positive trend and rising day by day, there is a need to advise the investors and individuals to adopt a cautious approach with a view to avoiding losses,” according to local media outlets.

This year, it shows no sign of stopping either. The strong positive momentum is pushed by various factors, including the fact that MSCI has announced reinstatement of Pakistan’s Emerging Markets status in May 2017.

Enhanced liquidity has helped the market gain over 4% year-to-date (YTD). PSX has been termed as one of Asia's best-performing markets for several years. Last Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar spoke to media at the 40% share purchase deal-signing event between PSX and a Chinese Consortium.