Karachi Stock Exchange on Thursday created history as the benchmark 100-index surpassed the psychological barrier of 30,000-point to reach record high of 30,177 points. The KSE-100 index successfully crossed the level of 30,000 points supported by heavy foreign and institutional buying. The positive sentiment has been attributed to Moody's rating on Pakistan credit outlook and upgrade in top big five banks of the country.
Nadeem Naqvi, Managing Director KSE, said that the market valuations remained reasonable and are still at significant discount to Asian region. Moody's upgrade should reduce the country's risk perception and in turn, this may help valuation expansion, thus providing further momentum to the market going forward, he added.
Analysts believe that the stability in PKR and continuation of economic recovery supported the market. They added that continuous improvement in the economic variables and government efforts to resolve structural issues will also enhance foreign investors' confidence in the country. Some analysts say the other reason for this record improvement is the portfolio investment. They added that the government succeeded in attracting foreign investors and this was the main reason behind a surge in KSE-100 index. Recent reports from the IMF and the World Bank also show improvement on macroeconomic front, which also aided to the investor confidence build-up, they maintained.