The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish trend on Tuesday, where the KSE-100 Index surged by nearly 1,000 points in the early hours. Investors showed optimism after the IMF Executive Board approved the release of $1.2 billion for Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) on Monday.
By 1 PM, the benchmark KSE-100 Index had climbed 928.18 points, or 0.55%, reaching 169,231.42 points.
Analysts attributed this positive trend to the IMF Board’s approval, which resulted in the release of nearly $1.2 billion—around $1 billion under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF. With this, total disbursements under both facilities rose to approximately $3.3 billion.
Strong buying interest was seen across major sectors, including cement, commercial banks, fertilizers, oil & gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), power producers, and refineries. Stocks like Hubco, Mari, OGDC, POL, PPL, MCB, MEBL, NBP, and UBL all traded in the green.
It is worth noting that on Monday, the PSX started the week on a strong and confident note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 1,217.67 points to close at 168,303.25.
Globally, Asian stock markets saw a decline on Tuesday, while the US dollar remained stable as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of possible US interest rate cuts later this week. Additionally, the Japanese yen also remained steady after a powerful earthquake struck northeastern Japan, as the impact of the quake remained limited.
Sources stated that investors were cautious ahead of key central bank meetings.
This week, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of Canada are expected to maintain their interest rates, while the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates on Wednesday.
The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.28%, following weak overnight trading on Wall Street.
