KARACHI: Bullish sentiments were witnessed at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as further reduction in policy rate by State Bank of Pakistan announced, with benchmark KSE-100 Index closing higher by 366 points. KSE-100 saw some selling in first half, hitting an intra-low of 78,577.65.

However, second half of session witnessed strong buying spree that helped index close above 79,000. At close, benchmark index settled at 79,017.62, up by 365.82 points or 0.47 percent. Earlier, buying was witnessed in key sectors including banking, fertiliser, cement, power, OMCs, textile, pharma, technologyand chemical.

Key heavyweights such as UBL, FFC, FCCL, OGDC and HUBC posted significant gains, collectively contributing to notable 236-point rise, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report. Volume on all-share index increased to 584.28 million from 532.73 million on Wednesday. Value of shares rose to Rs 16.36 billion from Rs 14.73 billion in previous session.

Kohinoor Spinning was volume leader with 60.74 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 57.98 million shares and TPL Properties with 32.5 million shares. Shares of 439 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 212 registered an increase, 167 recorded fall while 60 remained unchanged. Monetary Policy Committee of State Bank of Pakistan unleashed key policy rate since April 2020, cutting it by 200 basis points (bps) to bring it down to 17.5 percent.Globally, Asian shares bounced on Thursday, tracking tech-driven rally on Wall Street. Investors are now awaiting policy decision from European Central Bank later in day where rate cut is almost certainty, but question remains whether it would move again in both October and December.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1 percent.Nikkei jumped 3 percent, helped by weaker yen, which pulled back from its 2024 high of 140.71 per dollar.