On Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) achieved a historic milestone by surpassing the 56,000 points for the first time in its history. This surge was attributed to investor optimism regarding positive talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation.
The KSE-100 index reached 56,176.16 points during intraday trading, showing a notable increase of 784.80 points or 1.42% from the previous close at 55,391.36 points.
According to Saad Ali, a capital market expert, the market’s upward momentum was a continuation of the gains from the previous week, fueled by the successful conclusion of technical talks with the IMF. Ali mentioned that there were no indications of the IMF opposing interest rate cuts.
The IMF mission initiated its review of Pakistan’s bailout package on November 2 and is expected to conclude by December 15. The outcome of this review will determine whether Pakistan will receive the second tranche of $700 million in December. Notably, the country had received $1.2 billion in July as the first installment of the standby arrangement.
In the previous week, the benchmark index had already set a new record by crossing the 55,000-point barrier. This surge was attributed to factors such as ongoing IMF reviews, domestic institutional buying, and a decrease in Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields. The KSE-100 index witnessed a substantial gain of 4.3% in the week, marking its eighth consecutive weekly rise.
