KARACHI: Pakistani stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors awaited tomorrow’s monetary policy announcement.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.49 per cent, or 76.75 points, higher at 15,788.96 on total volume of 137.58 million shares.

“The local market posted a new record high as optimism increased that tomorrow’s monetary policy announcement will cut rates,” said Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities.

“Leveraged companies and dividend yielding stocks remained in the limelight.” The central bank is expected to announce a monetary policy decision on Friday.

Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.79 per cent in September from a year earlier, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The year-on-year rate in August was 9.1 per cent. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased by 0.79 per cent from August, according to the bureau.

In the currency market, the Pakistani rupee ended weaker at 95.35/95.55 to the dollar compared to Wednesday’s close of 95.16/95.21.

Overnight rates in the money market ended slightly higher at 7.50 per cent compared to Wednesday’s 7.40 per cent.