Daily Times

The KSE-100 Index at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rose 614 points on the week’s final trading day as investors’ confidence returned on the back of encouraging developments at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a strengthening currency.

When compared to the previous session, both the volume of traded shares and their value grew. Trading got off to a strong start for the day, and it continued that way all the way through to the close, when the KSE-100 closed at 42,873.57, representing a gain of 630 points. The benchmark index finished the day up 614.24 points, or 1.45pc, at 42,857.57. The primary index rose by 1.81pc week over week. According to data compiled by Capital Stake, the indices rose steadily throughout the trading session. There was an increase in investor optimism because of the significant recovery of the rupee and the anticipated inflows, it said.

The news that Pakistan had obtained a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the IMF, signalling that the next tranche for the seventh and eighth review will be disbursed soon, boosted market confidence even further. In the meantime, the value of the rupee increased against the United States dollar for the ninth trading session in a row, ultimately reaching a settlement of 215.49 in the inter-bank market. On Friday, brokerage houses expressed their anticipation that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will maintain the policy rate at its current level of 15pc in the next announcement that is slated to take place on August 22. The banking industry (148.99 points), oil and gas exploration (114.94 points), and automobile assemblers were the sectors that were responsible for the benchmark index’s increase (46.20 points).