KSE-100 witnesses bullish sessions as benchmark index gains nearly 1,000 points

KARACHI: Bulls dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as the market gained more than 1,000 points amid improvement in the macro-economic indicators.  

At one point, the stocks touched an all-time high of 82,000.89 points around 11:45am.

The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 997.95 points or 1.24% to close at 81,459.28 points, up from the previous close of 80,461.33 points.

Samiullah Tariq, the head of research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company, attributed the gain to a reduction in fear from foreign selling and expectations of further interest rate cuts.

Tariq said that the expectations of rate cuts are "emanating from yesterday's rejection of t-bill auctions along with a cut in rate by the federal reserve".

EFG Hermes Pakistan CEO, Raza Jafferi, while speaking to Geo.tv, said: "The current account delivering a surplus in August, together with expectations of more interest rate cuts in coming monetary policies, is pulling domestic liquidity into equities and driving the KSE-100 higher."

According to Bloomberg, the PSX has been one of the best performers globally this year owing to improved economic outlook and a crucial initial loan deal with the International Monetary Fund in July.

Recently, the current account balance has also improved and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has slashed interest rates as inflation is easing.

AKD Group Chairman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi told Bloomberg that Pakistan securing the IMF loan and improving economic indicators are attracting investors as the country is still "very cheap for foreign investors” and those investments will continue, more so after the interest-rate cut.