By BR Web Desk

Stocks staged a massive recovery on the first day of the week with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 1,216 points, an increase of 2.76%, as across-the-board buying was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Accumulating 1,302.83 points, the benchmark index even recorded an intra-day high of 45,416.99, as blue-chip stocks lured investors.

At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with a gain of 1,215.83 points or 2.76% to settle at 45,330.05. This was the largest single-day increase – in terms of percentage – of the ongoing calendar year, beating the rally on October 14 when the KSE-100 rose 2.57%.

“The expectation of receiving funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the staff-level agreement last week, impending Saudi deposits expected to be received in one or two days as well as a major dip in crude oil prices acted as positive triggers,” said Capital Stake in its post-market comment.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, however, announced the formal signing of the agreement through an official statement by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) after market closed.

Meanwhile, AKD Securities highlighted that with IMF-related uncertainty largely behind and MSCI-related rebalancing near complete, the latest developments could act as a catalyst for the index gaining upward momentum with year-end phenomena carrying the Index forward.

“Also, ease-off in commodity prices could slow the pace of monetary adjustments in our view—another positive for the market,” said AKD Securities

An analyst told Business Recorder that the fall in international commodity prices is a positive sign for the Pakistan economy, as the country's major imports constitute POL products and the drop in its rates will help ease the current account deficit.

On the economic front, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the agreement for the deposit of $3 billion in SBP.

On Monday, sectors driving the benchmark index upwards included banking (268.14 points), cement (209.86 points), and oil and gas exploration (140.85 points).

Volume on the all-share index decreased from 289.85 million on Friday to 268.24 million on Monday. The value of shares traded although improved, amounting to Rs10.90 billion, up from Rs10.27 billion on Friday.

Fauji Foods was the volume leader with 14.85 million shares, followed by TPL Properties XB with 14.74 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom at 13.69 million shares.

Shares of 358 companies were traded on Monday, of which 263 registered an increase, 76 recorded a fall, and 19 remained unchanged.