The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish session on Wednesday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed higher by 764 points ahead of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board meeting.
The KSE-100 started the session in a range-bound manner as the index swayed in both directions.
However, the second half witnessed a strong buying spree that helped the index close the session above 82,000.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 82,247.92, up by 764.28 points or 0.94%.
“This uptick was largely driven by investor optimism ahead of the IMF board meeting,” brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said.
A broad wave of buying was seen, with major players like MCB, OGDC, NBP, UBL, and BAHL making significant gains that contributed 373 points to the overall rise, another brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Tuesday, selling pressure was seen at the PSX as the KSE-100 Index closed lower by 367 points.
Amid high expectations, the IMF’s Executive Board is all set to consider Pakistan’s 37-month Extended Fund Facility Arrangement (EFF) of about $7 billion on Wednesday (today).
According to the Fund’s Executive Board’s calendar available on its website, the board would consider “Pakistan - 2024 Article IV Consultation and Request for an Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility”.
Pakistani authorities and the IMF team reached a staff-level agreement on a 37-month EFF in the amount equivalent to SDR 5,320 million (or about USD 7 billion) on July 12.
Globally, most Asian markets built on a global rally Wednesday as China announced another interest rate cut the day after unveiling a series of measures to boost the country’s ailing economy.
Hong Kong and Shanghai, which surged more than four percent Tuesday, enjoyed another bumper start following a record performance on Wall Street, while gold also pushed to an all-time high.
The shift by China to provide support to an economy battered by a long-running debt crisis in the property sector and weak consumer spending added to the upbeat mood among traders after the Federal Reserve’s bumper rate cut last week.
However, some observers warned that Beijing would need to follow up with more stimulus to maintain momentum and ensure the economy can get back on track.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar on Wednesday, depreciating 0.02% in the inter-bank market. At close, the currency settled at 277.85, a loss of Re0.05 against the US dollar.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 422.16 million from 369.62 million on Tuesday.
The value of shares rose to Rs18.38 billion from Rs17.06 billion in the previous session.
Kohinoor Spinning was the volume leader with 51.89 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 29.72 million shares, and Pace (Pak) Ltd with 25.43 million shares.
Shares of 437 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 248 registered an increase, 126 recorded a fall, while 63 remained unchanged.