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Stocks on Monday breached the 84,000-points mark resistance level, mainly fuelled by energy sector as investors hope that central bank was primed for another rate cut in its next monetary policy meeting, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark the KSE-100 Index surged to an intraday high of 84,656.90, up 1120.05 points, or 1.34%, by 01:41pm.

Analysts, including Samiullah Tariq, pointed to rising expectations of a rate cut as the primary driver, citing a continuous drop in the consumer price index (CPI) inflation to single digits touching 6.9% in September.

Key sectors fueling the gains included automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizers, oil and gas exploration companies, and oil marketing companies (OMCs).

Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp said stocks were hovering around all-times highs led by blue chip oil scrips amid speculations in earnings season.

“Surging global crude oil prices, slump in banking lending rates and Govt deliberation on privatisation of SOEs played a catalyst role in bullish activity in PSX,” Mehanti added.

Heavyweights such as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Meezan Bank (MEBL), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL), Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGP), and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) were all in the green.

On Friday, the benchmark index jumped by 810.19 points or 0.98% to 83,531.96 points, hitting an intraday high of 83,605.73 points and a low of 82,594.80 points.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Fazal Moqeem Khan said that export from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had halted after imposition of two percent cess and feared of shifting of export to other provinces from KP if the cess was not withdrawn immediately.

Fazal Moqeem said that the provincial government move was not only adversely affecting exports but also incurred huge financial loss to exporters. He stated that export is shifting from KP to other provinces owing to negligence of the provincial government.

Fazal Moqeem asked federal and provincial governments to take pragmatic steps for facilitating businesses, trade and export.

The SCCI chief noted the traders have been facing difficulties owing to lack of facilities at Azakhel Dryport.

The issues were taken up by a delegation of Frontier Custom Agents Association (FCAA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar president, PAJCCI Senior Vice President and executive member of the SCCI Ziaul Haq Sarhadi during a meeting with the SCCI chief Fazal Moqeem Khan held at the chamber house on Saturday.

The association senior vice president Khalid Shahzad, vice president Imtiaz Ahmad Ali, executive members Mansoor Ahmad, Javed Khan, Tariq Afridi, Israr Afridi, Nizam Shah, Arshad Khan, Sher Muhammad, Wahab Khan and Faiz Muhammad were amongst members of the delegation.—APP