Pakistan stock market touches new high on positive IMF talks

Karachi: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday skyrocketed to a new record as it crossed the 56,000 milestone for the first time in history, as investors bet on the positive talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, a media report said.

The benchmark KSE-100 index reached an intra-day high of 56,583.59 points. However, it closed at 56,523.58 points after gaining 1,132.22 points or 2.04 per cent from the previous close of 55,391.36 points, Geo News reported.

Capital market expert Saad Ali said the market is extending last week's gains as the IMF concluded technical talks without any issue.

"There are no signs of the IMF disallowing rate cuts," he added, Geo News reported.

The IMF’s mission began its review of Pakistan’s bailout package on November 2 and is expected to conclude by December 15.

The review will determine whether Pakistan will receive the second tranche of $700 million in December. The country received $1.2 billion in July from the global lender as the first instalment of the standby arrangement.

Last week, the benchmark index set a new milestone after it jumped past the 55,000 barrier on the ongoing IMF review, domestic institutional buying, and reducing Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields, Geo News reported.

Overall trading volumes increased to 660.6 million shares compared to Friday's tally of 640.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was (Pak) Rs 22.4 billion.