KARACHI: The stock market continued its recovery drive for the second straight session on renewed buying interest enthused by hopes for another rate cut and strong corporate earnings, pushing the benchmark KSE 100 index to settle above the 114,000 level on Friday.

Topline Securities Ltd said the index extended its overnight rally, gaining another 1,049 points or 0.93 per cent to close at 114,256 points day-on-day.

The brokerage house at­­t­ributed the positivity to at­­­tractive valuations.

The significant contributions to the index’s rise were from the United Bank, National Bank, Bank Al-Habib, Meezan Bank, Askari Bank, and Habib Bank, which cumulatively contributed 621 points.

Lucky Cement continued to garner investor interest after it posted 2QFY25 earnings per share of Rs73.17, up by 22pc year-on-year and 20pc quarter-on-quarter.

After remaining sluggish for some time, Sazgar Engineering also surged 6pc on renewed interest amid investor optimism regarding sales numbers for its four-wheeler brand Haval for January.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market maintained a bull run on value-hunting across the board amid speculations in the earning season; the State Bank of Pakistan hint at further rate cuts amid thin inflation, rupee stability and falling bond yields helped bulls tighten their grip on PSX.

He added that the government revised contracts with 14 independent power producers, surging global crude oil prices and strong banking and cement sector earnings resulted in improved investor sentiments about the economic outlook.

The trading volume rose 12.22c to 543.12 million shares while the traded value increased 7.16pc to Rs27.97bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK (66.68m shares), World­Call Telecom (37.80m shares), Bank Makramah (18.54m shares), The Bank of Punjab (17.87m shares) and Sui Southern Gas Company (17.30m shares).

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2025