PSX surges past 53,000 points to reach all-time high

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday surged past the 53,000 point mark to hit an all-time high after it gained over 400 points on positive cues including political clarity over the election date and expectations of clearing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review.

The market stood at 53,111.30 points at 12pm with a gain of 454.54 or 0.86% points. This is the first time the KSE-100 index has breached the 53,000-mark.

Arif Habib Limited wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the market has achieved a remarkable milestone by soaring to unprecedented all-time high levels, surging past previous records and “setting a new era of financial excellence”.

Capital market expert Saad Ali told Geo.tv that the market was driven by abating political risk, macro indicators moving in the right direction, the expectation of a favourable IMF review and anticipation of rate cuts in the near term.

“However, the market remains cheap by historical standard at only 4x forward earnings,” he said.

Pakistan-Kuwait Head of Research, Samiullah Tariq, told Geo.tv: “Strong earnings, expectations of clearing IMF review, and expectations of a decline in interest rates in the future are driving the market.”

In October, the KSE-100 index was announced as the world’s third best-performing market as it touched a six-year high level of 51,920 points.

A day earlier, the IMF delegation in Pakistan lauded the steps taken by Pakistan but emphasised that Pakistan has to strictly implement all the targets.

The IMF mission led by Nathan Porter had arrived in Pakistan a day earlier to lead the two-week-long talks on the second tranche under the SBA.

Dr Akhtar assured the IMF that targets are being implemented under the loan programme and that all the conditions of the IMF have been implemented so far.