Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reached a new all-time high on Wednesday by the benchmark KSE-100 index crossing the 87,000-point barrier.

The index closed at 87,194.53 points, up by 727.96 points or 0.84pc, from the previous close of 86,466.57 points. The index reached an intraday high of 87,309.22 points.

Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, attributed the run to the decline in secondary market yields, political stability, the successful Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, and local mutual fund buying.

The brokerage firm said the trading session showed positive momentum, driven by expectations of an upcoming rate cut in the monetary policy announcement set for November 4.

“Investor enthusiasm for K-Electric Limited (KEL) also surged following the recent announcement that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has approved the generation tariff for all its power plants effective after June 2023,” it said.

Yousuf M Farooq, director research at Chase Securities, concurred with the firm, saying that the market was expecting a large rate cut in the next monetary policy announcement and three-month treasury bills were now trading at 14.24pc in the secondary market.

Sana Tawfik, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, also attributed the rally to the “clarity on the political front” after the passage of the 26th constitutional amendment, improving macroeconomic indicators, expectations about the monetary policy and the SCO summit.

A total of 699,294,030 shares were traded during the day as compared to 722,209,194 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 26.824 billion against Rs.25.024bn on the last trading day.

As many as 447 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 214 of them recorded gains and 173 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 60 companies remained unchanged.

The three top trading companies were KEL with 207,635,816 shares at Rs 4.67 per share, WorldCall Telecom with 42,917,587 shares at Rs 1.29 per share and Pak International Bulk with 33,969,303 shares at Rs 5.96 per share.

Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 96.84 per share price, closing at Rs 18,263.67, whereas the runner-up was Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering with Rs 92.57 rise in its per share price to Rs 1,018.23.

Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 61.88 per share closing at Rs 7,300.00 followed by Pakistan Engineering Company Limited with Rs 28.60 decline to close at Rs 896.39.

The index previously surged and hit an intraday record high at 86,846.04, a gain of 788.52 points, on Tuesday on the back of economic optimism supported by a second straight monthly current account surplus and surging foreign direct investment.