PSX at its business best with 119,000 on board
Business
The KSE-100 Index peaked and later closed at 118,422 on weekend
KSE-100 index climbed to new peak of 119,304.24 on March 20
PSX stages comeback due to optimism about reaching agreement with IMF, Moody's Ratings about banks
KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is back to its best as it surpassed 119,000 mark on Friday – the last day of business week.
The KSE-100 Index reached the figure of 119,027 after gaining 258 points during morning trade.
At one point the figure rose to 119,405 and the lowest was 118,638. Eventually the day's trading activity closed at 118,442.
Earlier, the PSX maintained its bullish trend on Thursday as it reached the all-time high, surpassing 119,000.
The KSE-100 index gained 1,330.22 points and climbed to the new peak of 119,304.24 during intraday trading, witnessing a positive change of 1.13 percent. Later in the day, the key index closed at 118,769.
WHAT LEADS TO STOCKS COMEBACK?
Having seen ups and downs in the last one month or so, the PSX staged a comeback mainly due to optimism about reaching a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the next loan tranche of $1 billion.
Reports about upgrade of Pakistani banks by Moody’s Ratings and potential resolution of circular debt issue also contributed to investor confidence.
“We have changed our outlook on Pakistan’s banking system to positive from stable to reflect the banks’ resilient financial performance as well as improving macroeconomic conditions from very weak levels a year ago,” Moody’s said in its recent assessment.
NEGOTIATION WITH IMF
The bullish trend in stocks has been witnessed after the IMF team, led by Nathan Porter, and Pakistani authorities recently made significant progress toward reaching a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) on the first review under the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Porter issued his end-of-mission statement after the delegation visited Islamabad and Karachi from Feb 24 to March 14, 2025, to hold discussions on the first review of Pakistan’s economic programme supported by EFF and on a possible new arrangement under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
“Program implementation has been strong, and the discussions have made considerable progress in several areas including the planned fiscal consolidation to durably reduce public debt, maintenance of sufficiently tight monetary policy to maintain low inflation, acceleration of cost-reducing reforms to improve energy sector viability, and implementation of Pakistan’s structural reform agenda to accelerate growth, while strengthening social protection and rebuilding health and education spending,” read the statement.
PSX 100,000 SUMMIT
Let’s recall that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) attained the historic high of 100,000 points on the heels of unprecedented streak of surge in November 2024.
The KSE-100 index, which is a key benchmark in PSX, achieved one milestone after another in November amid recurring reports of economic stability mainly due to the loan disbursement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The reassuring agreement with the international lender and Pakistan economic czar Muhammad Aurangzeb’s subsequent announcement ruling out a mini-budget boosted investor confidence.
It came on the heels of the State Bank of Pakistan’s decision to cut the policy rate by 250 basis points to 15 percent on Nov 5 and rise in country’s current account surplus to $349 million in October 2024 compared to a deficit of $287 million in the same month of the previous year.
This was the third consecutive month of a current account surplus.
