PSX surges to all-time high, breaches 88,000 milestone

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to witness an uptrend on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index breaching the 88,000 milestone in intraday trade.

The index gained 851.11 points, or 0.98%, to reach 88,045.64 points.

According to Mohammed Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, the rally was driven by local investors aggressively buying shares amid falling bond yields and expectations of a substantial cut in the monetary policy rate.

“The locals are buying aggressively due to falling bond yields and expectations of a rate cut,” said Mohammed Sohail. “The market is pricing in a 200-basis-point cut in the policy rate.”

Most analysts predict the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will reduce its policy rate by 200 basis points in its upcoming meeting on November 4. This would mark the fourth consecutive rate cut since June.

Earlier on Wednesday, KSE-100 index shot up over 700 points and closed above 87,000, marking a new all-time high.

The session saw sustained positive momentum, driven by strong institutional buying of cement and banking stocks.

Overall trading volumes decreased to 699.3 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 722.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs26.8 billion.

Shares of 447 companies were traded. Of these, 214 stocks closed higher, 173 fell and 60 remained unchanged.  During the day, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs366.6 million.