KARACHI, Pakistan: Pakistan's benchmark share index breached the key 71,000 level on Monday to touch an all-time high, continuing its rally, according to data from the Pakistan Stock Exchange website.

The index hit a high of 71,424.69 points during intraday trade. The market has surged 74% over the past year, and is up 10.43% year-to-date.

Pakistan is aiming to agree on the outline for a new International Monetary Fund loan on May, and "good March quarter dividends are helping share prices which despite rallying are trading at forward looking price-earning ratio of 4," said Sohail Mohammed, CEO of Karachi based brokerage company, Topline Securities.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi)