Stocks extended their rally at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled above the historic 90,000 mark for the first time.
According to the PSX website, the market started trading with a bullish trend and touched the highest level of 91,054.83 during the intraday trading.
At the day’s end, the benchmark index closed at 90,195.51, up by a mere 201.55 or 0.22% from the previous close of 89,993.96 points.
Widespread buying activity was observed in the first half of the session 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.
However, the second half witnessed some selling pressure which trimmed the intra-day gains.
Market analysts have attributed the recent bullish momentum 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 posted a net gain of 5.6% last week, with the KSE-100 index reaching its highest-ever closing of 89,993.96 points, just shy of the 90,000 mark. This marked the highest weekly return in 27 weeks and the 47th highest weekly return since the index’s inception.
