Stocks rise on robust economic data

The inflow of positive economic numbers helped the stock market maintain its bullish momentum as the KSE 100 index settled at a record peak near 95,000 on Monday. Despite falling by 143.20 at 94,620.45 in early trade on profit-taking, the index bounced back with a 544.27-point rally to hit an intraday high of 95,307.92 after the country posted a third straight monthly current account surplus. However, the index settled at 94,995.67, up by 232.03 points or 0.24pc day-on-day. Topline Securities Ltd said Chief Executive Moh­ammed Sohail said the market maintained a positive trajectory as the enco­uraging IMF statement lifted investor confidence. He said local mutual funds were actively buying at PSX, with net purchases of Rs40bn in the past two and a half months. This has made them a major driving force behind the 20pc surge in the benchmark index since Sept 1.