KARACHI: A significant surge in buying activity was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, as the KSE-100 Index jumped over 4,400 points, marking the second largest single-day point increase.

The positive momentum lasted throughout the trading session, with the index peaking at an intraday high of 114,189.71 before settling at 113,924.41, up by 4,411.27 points or 4.03%. The rise was fueled by across-the-board buying in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, fertilizers, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and power generation. Major index-heavy stocks such as HUBCO, PSO, SSGC, SNGP, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL, and UBL saw positive movement. The buying was largely driven by several factors, including a recent market correction after the central bank's decision to cut the policy rate by 200bps to 13%, a decrease of 900bps from its previous peak.

The market's recovery was also supported by speculation that local fund selling had subsided. Equities have significantly outperformed other asset classes in Pakistan in 2024, with the KSE-100 delivering a 75% gain from January 1 to December 20, including dividends. Last week, the PSX had faced considerable pressure due to heavy selling by mutual funds and institutional year-end profit-taking, causing the KSE-100 to drop by 4,788.65 points. Globally, Asian markets rallied following positive news on U.S. inflation, which raised hopes of further policy easing in the coming year. Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw a slight decline, depreciating 0.05% against the US dollar, settling at 278.57.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 857.83 million, with shares valued at Rs50.55 billion, up from Rs39.42 billion in the previous session. WorldCall Telecom led in volume, followed by Cnergyico PK and Pak Elektron.