PSX soars to all-time high on positive macros

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday soared to an all-time high as it rallied over 450 points — crossing the 53,000 barrier for the first time in history — driven by clarity regarding the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the general elections date.

Benchmark KSE-100 index jumped to an all-time high of 53,263.07 points during the intra-day trade but closed at 53,123.03 points with a change of 466.27 points or 0.89%.

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.