KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its northward journey for the third straight session as investors continued cherry-picking on Tuesday, propelling the benchmark KSE 100 index above the 118,000 barrier.

Topline Securities Ltd said the bullish momentum from the previous session carried forward, fuelled by robust institutional buying particularly from local mutual funds, as indicated by National Clearing Company of Pakistan data. This positive sentiment propelled the benchmark index to an impressive intraday gain of 2,769 points, closing at a remarkable 118,575.89, marking an increase of 1,278.16 points or 1.09pc day-on-day.

The key drivers of the rally included heavyweight stocks such as Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Oil and Gas Development Company, Lucky Cement, PSO, and Mari Energies, which collectively contributed 1,177 points to the index’s upward trajectory.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the PSX closed higher as investors weighed Pak-India ceasefire talks fostering stability and the finance minister’s assurance on the thin fiscal impact of the conflict.

He added that the rupee’s stability on easing geopolitical tensions and IMF loan approval, upbeat global equities, and surge in global crude oil prices kept fuelling investors’ optimism.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the bullish rampage continued at the PSX, taking the cumulative gains since Friday’s opening to over 14.5pc or 15,050 points.

On Monday, bulls staged an unprecedented rally of 10,123 or 9.45pc after 26 years to settle at 117,297 as investors cheered the ceasefire mediated by the United States between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals.

He said oil stocks led the rally on the stock market amid expectations of settlement of circular debt anytime soon. In addition, there had been a surge in international oil prices after the US and China agreed on Monday to postpone tariff changes for 90 days. Apart from oil stocks, the cement sector also witnessed some buying interest.

However, the market participation was low as the trading volume fell 6.62pc to 684.29 million shares while the traded value surged 73.08pc to Rs52.58 billion day-on-day.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2025