Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continues to witness exciting performance, as benchmark kse-100 index crossed 45,000 mark for the first time in 32 months.

The scripts that led the volume chart during the session were Hubco The Hub Power Company Limited, Hascol Petroleum Limited and Pakistan Petroleum Limited.

In the early trading hours, the market sentiments were primarily buoyed by the news of a possible agreement between the government and the Independent Power Plants (IPPs) over the payment terms of the outstanding circular debt and record surge in country’s exports.

The federal government has offered a package to the independent power producers (IPPs) in a bid to clear Rs450 billion circular debt, which has plagued the entire energy chain. The circular debt in the power sector stood at Rs2.3 trillion by end June 2020 against Rs1.6 trillion during the same period in 2019.

The circular debt in the oil and gas sector stands at Rs1.6 trillion. As of end of October 2020, the overdue receivables of 47 IPPs stood at around Rs451 billion, an industry official said, adding that Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has offered a package to clear this liability. He said the IPPs are evaluating the government’s offer.

Meanwhile, the country witnessed a record increase in exports of 18.3% in the month of December 2020, as demand in the international market surged. Exports rose to $2.357 billion in December 2020 compared to $1.993 billion in the same month of previous year. Major increase was seen in textile, engineering products, surgical instruments and value added leather products.

The announcement was made by Adviser to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, who tweeted, “This is the highest export ever in the month of December. For the period July-December 2020, our exports increased by 4.9% to $12.104 billion as compared to $11.533 billion in the corresponding period of last year.”