The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another bullish session on Monday as investor confidence pushed the benchmark KSE-100 Index to cross the historic 163,000 mark for the first time during intraday trading.
At 12:55 pm, the benchmark index was up by 794.31 points, or 0.49 percent, trading at 163,051.31 points. Analysts said the upward momentum was driven by strong buying across key sectors, reflecting market optimism.
Widespread interest was seen in automobile assembly, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), power generation, and refineries. Major stocks, including ARL, Hubco, Mari Petroleum, POL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, MCB, Meezan Bank, and UBL, remained in positive territory, showing strong demand from investors.
The rally comes as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mission Chief Eva Petrova, is in Islamabad for discussions on the second review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The delegation is also scheduled to meet with Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb today, a development investors consider a positive signal.
Last week, PSX also achieved record highs, closing at 162,257 points, reflecting a weekly gain of 4,220 points or 2.67 percent. The surge was largely supported by strong performances in exploration and production, power, and banking sectors, coupled with positive developments on both the political and economic fronts.
Globally, most Asian stock markets also showed upward trends on Monday, while the U.S. dollar dipped slightly as investors remained cautious over the potential government shutdown. If budget agreements are not reached, the shutdown is expected to start on Wednesday, coinciding with the implementation of new U.S. tariffs.
According to U.S. investors, there is a 90 percent probability that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in October, with an additional 65 percent chance of another rate cut in December, which has raised hopes for further improvement in global equity markets.
