The bulls dominated the trading floor on Thursday as the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a robust rally, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index soaring by 2,473 points, or 1.56%, to close at 160,657.

The index touched an intraday high of 2,760 points before paring some gains by the session’s end.

According to a market report by Topline Securities, the rally was driven by renewed investor confidence following merger and acquisition developments in the cement sector.

The optimism followed a notice to the exchange from Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF) announcing its plan to acquire Pioneer Cement (PIOC).

MLCF and Maple Leaf Capital (MLCL) currently hold an 18.6% stake in PIOC, while the Habibullah Group controls around 58% through multiple holdings. The remainder of shares are held by public investors.

Analysts said the potential consolidation could strengthen pricing power in the cement sector, spurring broader market optimism and steering the KSE-100 firmly into bullish territory.

Index-heavy stocks including FFC, LUCK, MLCF, DGKC, and MARI were among the major gainers, collectively contributing 1,309 points to the benchmark.

On the flip side, HMB, AIRLINK, TRG, and INIL together shaved off 54 points.

Investor participation remained strong, though overall activity eased slightly.

Total traded volumes stood at 796 million shares, while market turnover was recorded at Rs35.1 billion. BML led the volume chart with 112 million shares traded.