Analyst says market reacting positively due to optimism regarding new IMF programme
\n KARACHI
\nThe Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surpassed the 75,000 points mark for the first time on Wednesday after the global index provider MSCI upgraded PSX\u2019s status with the addition of one new company to its mainstream Frontier Market Index.
\nThe benchmark KSE-100 Index hit a new record high at 75,115 points, adding 0.78% or 584 points during the early hours of trade, crossing Tuesday\u2019s high of 74,531 points.
\nThe market has maintained its record-breaking spree for the past six months. The latest surge at over 75,000 points was recorded in the wake of the MSCI decision which encourages foreign investors to increase stakes in companies listed on PSX, particularly those PSX companies listed in the MSCI Frontier Market and MSCI Pakistan Index.
\nHowever, the index failed to sustain the upward trend, wiping out almost all the intra-day gains on profit selling. The benchmark index was hovering at 74,594 points at around 12:58 pm, clipping the intra-day gains to a mere 63 points (0.08%) from Tuesday\u2019s close.
\nThe speculative penny and tier II stocks attracted the most trade during the day and included companies from the cement, telecom, food, energy and technology sectors.
\nTopline Securities CEO Muhammad Sohail said the Pakistani market has crossed a new high of 75,000 points due to foreign fund buying.
\nMSCI announced adding one more Pakistan company, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), to its Frontier Index during its semi-annual review. The decision is set to increase Pakistan\u2019s weight in the index. The decision would potentially attract more passive foreign investment at PSX.
\nForeign investors are increasing their holdings on optimism amid Pakistan approaching the IMF to acquire a new loan programme to ensure continuity in repaying maturing foreign debt and creating financial space to support ramping up economic growth.
\nEarlier on Tuesday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) remained stuck to its original forecast for economic growth, saying growth would remain in the range of 2-3% in the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24 compared to a nominal negative growth last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Analyst says market reacting positively due to optimism regarding new IMF programme KARACHI The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surpassed the 75,000 points mark for the first time on Wednesday after the global index provider MSCI upgraded PSX\u2019s status with the addition of one new company to its mainstream Frontier Market Index. The benchmark KSE-100 Index […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n