PSX maintains record-setting rally, surpasses 179,000 milestone
Business
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 Index touched an intraday high of 179,016.88, up 2,661.39 points, or 1.51%, before retreating to a low of 176,709.51, still reflecting a gain of 354.02
KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its impressive rally on Friday, driven by growing investor confidence fueled by easing inflation in the country.
The bourse opened strongly on Friday, surpassing the 179,000 level for the first time and setting a new all-time intraday high, as investors positioned themselves ahead of next week’s earnings announcements, a strengthening rupee, and growing expectations of further policy easing by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) following a softer December Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 Index touched an intraday high of 179,016.88, up 2,661.39 points, or 1.51%, before retreating to a low of 176,709.51, still reflecting a gain of 354.02 points, or 0.2%.
Bloomberg, a global financial news outlet, has highlighted that Pakistan's inflation rate increased at a slower pace than expected last month, supporting the central bank's decision to lower its policy rate to a three-year low to encourage economic growth.
According to Bloomberg's report, food prices climbed by 3.24% in December, down from 5.53% in November. Similarly, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 5.6% year-on-year in December, compared to 6.1% in November.
Despite trade disruptions caused by tensions with Afghanistan and border restrictions, food supplies were sourced from alternative channels, and overall inflationary pressures remained relatively subdued.
A day earlier, the benchmark index closed bullish, gaining 2,301.17 points, a positive change of 1.32 percent, to settle at 176,355.49 points compared to 174,054.32 points on the previous trading day, according to PSX data.
During the session, the ready market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares with a traded value of Rs 48.424 billion, against 957.239 million shares valuing Rs 44.231 billion in the previous session.
Out of 485 active companies in the ready market, 337 advanced, 116 declined, while 32 remained unchanged.
