KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its record-breaking spree in the outgoing week, as the benchmark KSE 100 index scaled a new all-time high closing amid a positive economic outlook.

Arif Habib Ltd (AHL) said the market maintained its bullish trend driven by promising talks with the IMF on a new loan and the UAE`s commitment to investing $10bn in Pakistan`s promising economic sectors.

On the economic front, Pakistan received gross inflows of $171m in Roshan DigitalAccount (RDA) in April. Moreover, the government raised Rs96.88bn through the PIB auction. The cut-off yield for three-year bonds was reduced by 1bps to 16.64 per cent, for five-year PIBs by 3bps to 15.45pc and for 10-year bonds by 5bps to 14.29pc. The rupee depreciated by 10 paise to 278.3 against the greenback.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 75,983 points after gaining 641 points or 0.85pc week-on-week.

Foreigner selling was witnessed in the outgoing week, clocking in at $12.08 million compared to a net buy of $14.94mn last week.

Major selling was witnessed in debt ($16.55m)and technology ($0.63m). On the local front, buying was reported by banks/DFIs ($10.44m), followed by insurance companies ($5.31m). The average trading volumes rose 0.7pc to 558m shares ), while the average value traded settled at $64.8m week-on-week.

The market is expected to remain bullish next week. `The initiation of the new programme with the IMF is poised to boost market sentiment significantly. Investors will closely monitor advancements concerning the Federal Budget 2024-25 and the realisation of investments from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are anticipated to further fuel market optimism,` observed AHL.