KARACHI: Pakistan’s KSE-100 index continued its bullish steak for eighth consecutive sessions as it surged by 2.24 percent on Monday, witnessing a spike of 825 points, in the wake of the recommendation issued by the International Monetary Fund’s Pakistan mission to release the second tranche of $450 million for the South Asian country that is still grappling with economic challenges.

The longest bullish spell in a year was witnessed at the Pakistan bourse following “easing political noise, MSCI emerging market status quo and IMF affirmations over the achievement of First Quarter Performance Criteria by good margins,” Ahsan Mehanti, senior equity analyst, commented.

After the first review of the overall economic performance of the country under the IMF’s $6 billion bailout program, the Fund on Friday declared that the Pakistani authorities had met all performance criteria with comfortable margins.

Following the performance review, Pakistan and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement that paved the way for the second tranche of $450 million that the country expects in December this year.

Analysts say that amid the bullish spell, the equity market’s benchmark KSE 100 Index has witnessed a surge of about 7000 points from its lows. They add that the stock market has given a return of 14.10 percent since July 1.

“The external position of Pakistan seems comfortable now. The political tension has also defused, national saving scheme (NSS) rate cut and IMF review have played a vital role in putting the market on an upward trajectory,” Samiullah Tariq, Director Research at Arif Habib Limited, told Arab News.

On Monday, the market volumes increased from 210.6 million to 283 million shares, contributed mostly by banks, cement firms and the technology sector.

Pakistan’s capital markets are said to be attractive for foreign investors who had spent $675 million in treasury bills (T-Bills) and $3 million in Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) by November 11, 2018.

However, the equity market witnessed outflows of $30 million since July 2019, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and AHL Research.

During the past eight sessions, the domestic equity bourse rose by 9 percent or 3,042 points.

Previously, the market had exhibited such a trend on November 2, 2018, when it shot up by 11.4 percent or 4,289 points.