The benchmark KSE-100 closed at a fresh all-time high, nearing the 89,000 mark on Thursday, as the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its record-breaking run.
The benchmark index increased 1,751.45 points, or 2.01%, to settle at 88,945.98. It reached its peak intra-day at 89,126.15, which is currently its record level.
Cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration businesses, OMCs, and refineries are among the index-heavy industries where buying was observed.
HUBCO, KEL, OGDC, PPL, and PSO are among the index-heavy equities that saw positive trading.
The buying frenzy was ascribed to a number of variables by market professionals.
Furthermore, this momentum is also being fueled by “better corporate results.”
Others also shared similar opinions.
“Amid expectations of significant rate cuts in November and December monetary policy meetings, the Pakistani market saw another high driven by aggressive institutional buying,” stated Mohammed Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, in a report.
He said that Thursday’s record volume of Rs53 billion ($190 million) in cash and futures trading at PSX “signalling improved confidence of investors.”
“This outstanding performance reflects a 41.0% gain CYTD in 2024 (4th high-performing equity market in the world) and an 8.5% MoM increase,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL).
Citing its poll, AHL stated on Wednesday that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may decide to further lower the key policy rate by as much as 200 basis points (bps) in response to improving economic data and a slowing rate of inflation.
As the benchmark index broke beyond the 87,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, closing at 87,194.53, the buying frenzy at the PSX persisted.
Following sharp losses on Wall Street, Asian markets had mixed results on Thursday as investors lowered their expectations for interest rate cuts due to a surge in US Treasury yields.
There was a lot of uncertainty on trading floors because the US presidential election is still less than two weeks away, but analysts indicated that dealers were hoping for Donald Trump to win and measures that might fuel inflation once more.
Expectations for rate cuts have decreased as a result of this, a robust run of economic data, and statements from Federal Reserve officials supporting a cautious approach to relaxing monetary policy.
Traders had last month been sure the central bank would follow up last month’s hefty 50-basis-point drop with another at its November meeting and a smaller one in December.
In the meantime, the Pakistani rupee saw a slight decrease in value against the US dollar on Thursday, falling 0.04% on the interbank market. The currency lost Re0.11 versus the US dollar at close, closing at 277.84.
On Wednesday, the all-share index’s volume climbed from 699.29 million to 757.65 million.
In the previous session, the value of shares increased from Rs26.82 billion to Rs36.05 billion.
With 113.2 million shares, K-Electric Ltd. led the volume, followed by PTCL (41.1 million) and Fauji CementXD (23.3 million).
On Thursday, shares of 238 businesses were traded; 238 saw an increase, 167 saw a decline, and 49 saw no change.