On Friday, the penultimate day of the business week, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crossed the 119,000 mark, indicating that it is back to its peak.
The KSE-100 Index gained 258 points during morning trading to reach 119,027.
The number peaked at 119,405 at one point and fell to 118,638 at the lowest. Ultimately, trade activity for the day ended at 118,442.
The PSX hit an all-time high of almost 119,000 on Thursday, continuing its upward trajectory.
During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index saw a positive shift of 1.13 percent, gaining 1,330.22 points and reaching a new high of 119,304.24. The major index closed at 118,769 later in the day.
WHAT CAUSES THE RETURN OF STOCKS?
After experiencing fluctuations over the past month or two, the PSX recovered mostly because of hope that a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the upcoming $1 billion loan tranche may be reached.
Investor confidence was also boosted by reports of Moody’s Ratings’ upgrade of Pakistani banks and the possible resolution of the circular debt problem.
“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.
TALKING WITH THE 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).
Following the delegation’s February 24–March 14, 2025, visit to Islamabad and Karachi to discuss the first evaluation of Pakistan’s EFF-supported economic program and a potential new agreement under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), Porter released his end-of-mission statement.
The statement read, “Program implementation has been strong, and the discussions have made considerable progress in several areas, including the planned fiscal consolidation to reduce public debt in a sustainable manner, the implementation of Pakistan’s structural reform agenda to accelerate growth, while strengthening social protection and rebuilding health and education spending, and the maintenance of a sufficiently tight monetary policy to maintain low inflation.”
SUMMIT OF PSX 100,000
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.
