KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index crossed the 46,000 barrier on Friday as it gained 600 points during intraday trading before the week’s end.
The index turned bullish on the back of across-the-board aggressive buying, reportedly by foreign investors in energy sectors coupled with institutional support. It gained 725 points to reach 46,122.16 points from Thursday’s close of 45,398.31, before closing at 45,920.73 on Friday evening. It is pertinent to mention that the index has crossed the 46,000 mark after a gap of 15 months, he said.
Experts believe that the spike in KSE-100 index comes on the back of various factors including the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) ruling which declared the imposition of super tax on various companies against the law and terminated all notices in this regard, as well as reports of keeping the policy rate the same.
It was in November 2021, when the index had last crossed the psychological 46,000 mark before achieving it today.
The spike quickly got political attentions, as PML-N leader and political heir Maryam Nawaz Sharif promptly took to Twitter to expressed gratitude over the development.
https://twitter.com/MaryamNSharif/status/1682337377887346689
Across-the-board buying was witnessed among index-heavy sectors including automobile assembler, chemical, commercial banks, refinery, oil & gas exploration companies and OMCs, while pharmaceutical, sugar and allied sector registered losses.
The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) surged $4.2 billion, clocking in at nearly $8.73 billion as of July 14, data released on Thursday showed.
“During the week ended July 14, 2023, SBP received $2.0 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, $1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and $1.0 billion from the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the SBP said in a statement.
Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $14.07 billion.
