The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 747.16 points or 1.16% to settle at 65,325.68 levels at the closing of the market.

Similarly, the KSE-30 Index gained 256.58 points or 1.17% to reach 22,145.66 at the market’s closing.

Experts said that the investors’ sentiments improved as the National Assembly elected on Friday Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Ayaz Sadiq as its speaker, paving the way for the election of a new prime minister.

Read: Race for new finance minister heats up ahead of IMF negotiations

On the macroeconomic front, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February was up 23.1% from the same month last year, marking the slowest rate of annual inflation since June 2022, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

The country has been struggling with soaring inflation, which last May hit an all-time high of 38% on an annual basis, partly driven by new taxation measures the government imposed to comply with International Monetary Fund demands. Islamabad’s funding agreement with the IMF expires on April 11.