Pakistan’s benchmark share index rose 1% on Monday as ratings agency Fitch upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating.

According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index closed at 78,827.74 levels after gaining 798.24 points, appreciating by 1.02 per cent against the previous closing of 78,029.50.

A total of 371,087,020 shares were traded during the day as compared to 278,327,575 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 19.156 billion against Rs 11.621 billion on the last trading day.

The three top trading companies were Waves Home Applications with 27,932,495 shares at Rs 9.82 per share, Ali-Shaheer Corporation with 15,548,238 shares at Rs 7.03 per share and Dewan Motors with 14,274,013 shares at Rs 43.86 per share.

The State Bank of Pakistan cut the key interest rate by 100 basis points to 19.5%, its governor said on Monday, a decision in line with expectations of investors and analysts.

The widely forecast move followed the bank’s decision to cut rates - from a record high of 22% - for the first time in nearly four years at its last meeting in June, as it signalled that soaring inflation was tempering.

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Fitch Ratings on Monday upgraded Pakistan’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to ‘CCC+’ from CCC, citing greater availability of external funding under the country’s new IMF agreement.

Pakistan’s sovereign dollar bonds were flat to slightly higher by 1002 GMT, in line with most of the market. The 2026 maturity was trading 0.52 cents to bid at 89.57 cents on the dollar.