Bulls asserted their dominance in the market on Thursday after Election Commission Pakistan provided an election date to the Supreme Court.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index gained 314.13, or 0.6 per cent, on Thursday to close at 52,656.76 points from the previous close of 52,342.63 points.

This development follows the ECP’s informing the Supreme Court that general elections will be held on Feb 11, which indicates political stability.

Stocks have rallied for the fourth consecutive day, following the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)‘s announcement to maintain its policy rate of 22 per cent to contain inflation which was at par with most analysts’ expectations.

In addition, October’s inflation clocked in at 26.9pc, which analysts say indicates that inflation will cool down in the near future.

“On a month-on-month basis, inflation has slowed down to 1.08pc versus the last three months averaging 2.4pc,” said Moha­mmad Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities.

So far, major activity was reported in stocks such as Worldcall Telecom Limited, TPL Properties Limited, Pakistan Refinery Limited, Cnergyico PK Limited, and Ghani Global Holdings Limited.

The top advancers include Agritech Limited, TPL Corp Limited, TPL Properties Limited, Dandot Cement Company Limited and Leather Up Limited.

The top decliners include The Universal Insurance Company Limited, Premier Insurance Limited, Tri-Star Mutual Fund Limited, Pakistan Oxygen Limited and Masood Textile Mills Limited.