The market closed at 78,356.32 points against 78,283.30 points on the last working day.

As many as 436,672,976 shares were traded during the day against 457,280,204 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 12.255 billion against Rs 15.874 billion on the last trading day.

A total of 443 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 203 of them recorded gains and 167 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 73 companies remained unchanged.

The three top trading companies were Kohinoor Spinning with 83,941,688 shares at Rs 11.13 per share, Symmetry Group Limited with 37,132,050 shares at Rs.9.99 per share and Agha Steel Industries with 21,567,881 shares at Rs.13.88 per share.

Nestle Pakistan Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 139.17 per share price, closing at Rs 7,000.00, whereas the runner-up was Mari Petroleum Company Limited with a Rs 66.56 rise in its per share price to Rs 3,510.73.

Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 163.50 per share closing at Rs 17,435.50 followed by Khyber Textile Mills Limited with Rs 67.38 decline to close at Rs 606.46.

The market witnessed positive change after Pakistan’s annual consumer price inflation rate slowed to 9.6% in August, the first single-digit reading in almost three years.

Pakistan struck a deal last month with the International Monetary Fund for a $7 billion loan programme that includes tough measures such as higher taxes on farm incomes and electricity prices.

The prospect of such moves has worried poor and middle class Pakistanis. But inflation has started moving on a downward trend, albeit from a high base.

Monday’s inflation figure was in line with finance ministry projections released on Friday of a range of 9.5-10.5% in August. It forecast further falls in September.

Pakistan’s August annual CPI figures were down from 27.4% this time last year and 11.1% in July. The monthly inflation rate was 0.4%, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.