Daily Times

The 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bullish trend on Monday, gaining 353.41 points, a positive change of 0.44 percent, closing at 80,566.21 points against 80,212.79 points on the last working day. A total of 261,649,614 shares were traded during the day as compared to 448,981,017 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 13.024 billion against Rs 18.995 billion on the last trading day. Around 427 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 216 of them recorded gains and 158 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 53 companies remained unchanged. The three top trading companies were Hum Network with 20,667,563 shares at Rs 11.36 per share, National BankXD with 19,555,510 shares at Rs 50.92 per share and Bank of Punjab with 17,587,329 shares at Rs5.79 per share. Sazgar Engineering Works Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 83.98 per share price, closing at Rs 998,89, whereas the runner-up was Pakistan Hotels Developers Limited with a Rs 57.66 rise in its per share price to Rs 664.60. Philips Morris (Pakistan) Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 61.71 per share closing at Rs 617.48, followed by Sapphire Textile Mills Limited with a Rs 27.71 decline to close at Rs 1,300.00. Eariler, Firefighters were busy dousing flames at the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi on Monday after a fire erupted on the fourth floor, a rescue service confirmed.No loss of life or injury has so far been reported in the incident, Rescue 1122 Sindh said in a statement. As per local media reports, people inside the stock exchange were evacuated from the premises after the fire erupted. “Rescue 1122’s fire and rescue team were dispatched to the venue with two fire brigade trucks as soon as they received information [about the fire],” the rescue service said. Video footage shared widely showed flames and smoke billowing from the fourth floor of the Pakistan Stock Exchange building. According to local media reports, trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange was suspended after the fire broke out. The country’s largest bourse is located on I. I. Chundrigar Road, also known as Pakistan’s Wall Street, the city’s main commercial street in a high-security zone close to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Central Police Office. Many offices of private banks, commercial enterprises, and the head office of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) are in close vicinity.