KARACHI: Record-setting spree continued for the third straight session on the stock market on Monday as investors remained busy cherry-picking, pushing the index to its highest-ever level above 85,000 intraday.

“The market continued its record-breaking mom­en­tum, primarily due to positive sentiment in sectors including oil and gas, banking, and cement. This rally is driven by expectations of a potential policy rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan in the upco­ming Monetary Policy Committee meeting early next month coupled with better than expected financial position of exploration and production companies,” Tahir Abbas of AHL told Dawn on Monday.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the inflow of $6 million for the close-out settlement of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) with Iraq Midland Oil triggered the rally.

He added that surging global crude oil prices, a slump in banking lending rates, and the government deliberation on privatisation of state-owned enterprises fuelled a rally at the PSX.

Topline Securities Ltd said the surge was driven by falling bond yields and an expected sharp drop in inflation, igniting a wave of optimism in the market.

Key players like Oil and Gas Development Comp­any, PPL, Fauji Fertiliser, Pakistan Oilfield and Engro Corporation fuelled the rally, contributing a remarkable 752 points to the index.

As a result, the benchmark index settled continued its winning streak for the fifth consecutive day, propelling the index to an all-time high at 84,910.30 after staging a spectacular rally of 1,378.34 points or 1.65 per cent day-on-day.

The trading volume rose 17.81pc to 449.50 million shares while the traded value surged 47.13pc to Rs30.19bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (40.77m shares), Hub Power Company Ltd (28.08m shares), Fauji Cement (23.12m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (21.95m shares) and Oil & Gas Development Ltd (20.72m shares).

The shares registering the most significant incre­ases in their prices in absolute terms were Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs185.20), Pak Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs85.77), Pakistan Nati­onal Shipping Corporation (Rs35.45), Exide Pakistan (Rs33.68) and Lucky Core Industries (Rs31.13).

The companies that suffered major losses in their share prices in absolute terms were Bhanero Text­ile (Rs82.27), Hallmark Com­pany (Rs43.04), Unil­ever Foods (Rs32.13), Khy­ber Tobacco (Rs18.73) and Indus Motor (Rs11.67).

Mutual funds remained busy in value-hunting, pic­king shares worth $9.05m. After a long break, foreign investors also turned net buyers as they purchased shares worth $2.82m.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024