Stocks open higher as KSE-100 crosses 174,000 level

Stocks kicked off the final week of the year with a bang, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 174,000 level during the opening hours of Monday’s session. Strong momentum was observed during the day, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 Index to an intra-day high of 174,411.72. At 11:30am, the benchmark index was hovering at 173,669.86, an increase of 1,269.13 points or 0.74%. Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilisers, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MEBL and MCB, traded in the green.