KARACHI: Despite a bearish opening on Monday, the equities market managed to extend its record-setting streak in disregard to mounting political tensions amid an ongoing protest march by the opposition towards the capital. In a choppy session, the benchmark KSE 100 index settled above 98,000 for the first time.

In initial trading, the index plunged 660.60 points, hitting the day`s low of 97,137.64. However, it bouneed back to an intraday high of 99,317.48 with a gain of 1,519.24 points. Finally, it closed at 98,079.78 after adding 281.55 or 0.29pc points day-on-day.

Topline Securities Ltd said the market maintained a bullish trend as investor confidence was buoyed by unconfirmed speculation that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may offer relaxation to banks regarding minimum depositratesforsavers.Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed higher on the strong earnings outlook and the Islamabad High Court ban on protests in the capital easing political noise. However, midsession pressure remained onPSX`s future contracts rollover, and there was uncertainty over the outcome of PTI protests and geopolitical tensions.

He noted that upbeat economic indicators, rupee stability, and the rising SBP reserves supported themarket`s bullish momentum.

Key contributors to the index`s rise included Bank Al-Habib, United Bank, Meezan Bank, Systems Ltd, and MCB Bank, which collectively added 555 points.However, the overall trading volume plunged 48.74pc to 640.25 million shares. The traded value also contracted 43.65pc to Rs25.62bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded vol-ume included Hascol Petroleum (64.82m shares), Cnergyico PK (48.06m shares), Fauji Foods (40.91mshares),WorldCall Telecom (33.54m shares) and K-Electric (32.09m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs117.14), Pakistan Services (Rs46.11), Siemens Pakistan (Rs26.52), Macter International Ltd (Rs21.47) and Service Industries (Rs17.95).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were PIA Holding Ltd [B] (Rs95.96), Rafhan Maize (Rs59.95), Hoechst Pakistan (Rs47.03), Lucky Cement (Rs28.11) and Abbott Lab (Rs24.62).

Foreign investors remained net sellers, offloading shares worth $5.2m.

Mutual funds also resorted to profit-taking and disposed of shares worth $3.04m.