Bulls continued their stampede at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as shares gained over 600 points in intraday trade as analysts attributing the rally to progress regarding the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

The KSE-100 index gained 639.22 points, or 0.96 per cent, to stand at 67,187 at 11am from the previous close of 66,547.78 points.

Finally, the index closed at 67,142.12, up by 594.34 points, from the previous close.

Arif Habib Limited, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) at 10:50am, said the index had crossed previous high level of 67,094 on intraday basis.

A day earlier, strong inter­national interest following significant progress tow­ards privatisation of the national flag carrier and optimism about International Monetary Fund (IMF) in­flows early next month had triggered a fresh buying spree, tossing the KSE 100-share index to an all-time high closing above 66,500 level.

It should be mentioned that on Tuesday the federal cabinet had approved the board of PIA Holding Company. The move was hailed as a significant development in the national carrier’s privatisation process as its liabilities and assets will be transferred to the holding company, which will be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Speaking to Dawn.com today, Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, observed that the rally continued on Thursday with the KSE-100 index crossing the 67,000 mark.

“Foreign and local institutions buying amid positive news on privatisation and IMF,” he said.

Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, said, “This robust performance is primarily attributable to political clarity, successful staff-level agreement (SLA) with the IMF and initiation of talks with the Fund for a bigger and longer tenure programme.”

He also cited the attractive valuation of the market “as it is still trading at the price-to-earning ration of 4.4x”, adding that foreign interest and inflows in the market helped propel the momentum.

Abdul Azeem, head of research at Spectrum Securities, attributed the bullish momentum to the announcement by premier to enter a new IMF deal for economic stability and the strengthened rupee.

“The resumption of profit repatriation by the government would alleviate obstacles for foreign companies and facilitate reinvestment, thus driving the market towards a positive trajectory,” he said.

Major sectors that kept the index in the green territory were Banks, Fertilizer and Cement, while volume-wise activity was primarily observed in technology (127m), followed by chemical (40m) and bank (36m).

The volume leaders were noted to be Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (56mn), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (27mn) and Telecard Limited (26m).