Stocks extended their record-breaking rally at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index surpassing the historic 91,000 mark during the intraday trade.
According to the PSX website, the market started trading with a positive note and the benchmark index gained over 800 points to reach 90,888.67 points at 10:12 am. The index touched its highest level of 91,054.83 around 12:00 pm.
At 12:50 pm, the KSE-100 was hovering at 90,597.90 points, with an increase of 603.94 points or 0.67% from the previous close of 89,993.96 points.
Widespread buying activity was observed in major sectors such as oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies, power generation firms, automobile assemblers, cement and banks.
Key stocks such as OGDC, PPL, PSO, NBP, MCB and SSGC traded in the green.
Market analysts have attributed the recent bullish run to anticipation of another rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) amid expectations of a lower inflation reading in October.
Many economists expect the SBP to cut its key policy rate by 200 basis points in its upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for November 4, 2024.
This would be the fourth consecutive reduction since June.
Investor optimism is also fueled by positive corporate earnings reports and encouraging economic indicators.
The PSX ended the last week with a net gain of 5.6% WoW, and it is expected to remain positive, with the primary focus on the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting where the hopes of a rate cut could further boost the investor sentiment.
