KARACHI: After a day of intense profit-taking, bullish momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,900 points to reach a new all-time high of 110,810.

The index saw an intra-day high of 111,012.01 before closing at 110,810.21, a rise of 1,913.56 points, or 1.76%. The strong rally was driven by across-the-board buying in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, and power generation. Major index-heavy stocks like HUBCO, NRL, PSO, SSGC, SHELL, ENGRO, NBP, MEBL, HBL, and UBL traded in the green. Improved economic indicators, such as a reduction in inflation to 4.9% in November, contributed to the positive sentiment, raising expectations of a further policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

This has been seen as a key factor supporting investor confidence and driving bullish activity. Tuesday had witnessed a volatile session, with the KSE-100 Index closing lower by 1,073.74 points or 0.98% at 108,896.65 due to selling pressure as investors booked profits. In the broader Asian market, stocks remained cautious ahead of a potential U.S. rate cut, while the Pakistani rupee depreciated slightly against the US dollar, settling at 278.17 with a marginal decline of Re0.12. The trading volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,080.02 million from 1,548.30 million on the previous day. K-Electric Ltd led in trading volume with 135.92 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 73.53 million shares, and Fauji Foods Ltd with 57.12 million shares. Overall, 472 companies were traded, with 288 registering gains, 130 experiencing losses, and 54 remaining unchanged.