KARACHI: In a period of relative political calm, Pakistani shares continued their overnight rally due to aggressive value-hunting on Monday, driving the benchmark KSE 100 index higher.

Topline Securities Ltd said the bulls decisively regained control of the local bourse, propelling the index to an impressive intraday high of 1,004 points before closing at 115,844, marking a gain of 572.73 points or 0.50 per cent day-on-day.

This upward momentum was fuelled by stren­gthened investor confide­nce bolstered by political stability that eased prevailing uncertainties. Additionally, anticipating a potential rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Poli­­cy Committee meeting on Jan 27 further amplified positive market sentim­e­­nt, driving broad-based optimism across key sectors.

Major contributors to the day’s gains included Engro Holdings, Fauji Fertiliser, Meezan Bank, The Searle Company, and Maple Leaf Cement, which collectively added 449 points to the index. On the other hand, losses in Mari Petroleum, Pakistan Petroleum, Systems Ltd, PSO, and Bank Alfalah wiped out 182 points.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the equities market maintained a bullish spell amid an upbeat $1.2 billion current account surplus and a 20pc surge in foreign dire­­ct investment to $1.33bn for July-Dec 2024-25.

He added that the easing political risk and speculations over likely progress in the government-PTI negotiations helped the bullish forces tighten the grip further at PSX.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said investors opted to do some cherry-picking ahead of Donald Trump’s oath-taking as the 47th president of the United States.

Fertiliser, bank, pharma, and cement sectors contributed positively.

Market activity was robust as the trading volume rose 22.82pc to 675.04 million shares while the traded value increased 4.45pc to Rs37.53bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded vo­­lume included Lotte Che­mical (l59.47m sha­res), Bank Makramah (57.80m shares), World­Call Telecom (56.89m sha­res), Hascol Petroleum (24.27m shares) and De­­w­an Farooque (22.89m shares).

The shares registering the most significant incre­ases in their share prices in absolute terms were Ho­­echst Pakistan (Rs166.92), Colgate Pakistan (Rs23.90), Premium Tex­tile (Rs23.77), Siemens Pa­­kistan (Rs23.62) and Ismail Industries (Rs23.16).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs148.50), Philip Morris (Rs34.49), Pakistan Engineering Company (Rs31.85), Nestle Pakistan (Rs27.29) and Mitchells Fruit (Rs22.75).

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2025