KARACHI: Pakistani stocks continued their bullish run on Thursday, breaching the 176,000 points barrier for the first time after trading ended, with analysts attributing the surge to investors expecting further cuts in the policy rate. 

The KSE-100 benchmark gained 2,301.17 points at close of business on Thursday, marking an increase of 1.32 percent to settle at 176,355.49 points. 

Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent last ‌month, breaking a four-meeting ‌hold in a move ‌that ⁠surprised ​markets. Pakistan’s consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, while prices fell on a monthly basis as per data from the finance ministry. 

“Upbeat data for consumer price index (CPI) inflation at 5.6pc in December 2025 [with] investors expecting a further State Bank of Pakistan rate cuts on falling inflation data,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities Ltd., told Arab News. 

The stock market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares, with a traded value of Rs48.424 billion ($173 million), compared with 957.239 million shares valued at Rs44.231 billion ($158 million) during the previous session.

Topline Securities, a leading brokerage firm in Pakistan, credited the surge to strong buying at the first session.

“This positivity can be accredited to buying by local institutions on the start of the new calendar year,” it said. 

Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad highlighted that the bullish trend at the stock market reflected “strong investor confidence.”

“With lower inflation, affordable fuel, stronger reserves, rising digitization and a buoyant capital market, Pakistan’s economic outlook is clearly improving--supporting greater confidence, better investment sentiment and more positive momentum for 2026,” he said on social media platform X.