PSX climbs to 14-month high as positive news comes from Saudi Arabia
Business
Investors have regained confidence after Pakistan reached a deal with IMF
KARACHI (Web Desk) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish on Tuesday as it surged to 45,250.48 after receiving the news that Saudi Arabia had deposited $2 billion with the central bank.
During the process, the stock market touched the highest level in 14 months as the investors have regained their confidence after Pakistan struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on June 30.
By the time trading was closed, the benchmark KSE-100 Index stood at 45,155.79 (representing a 1.28 per cent gain) against the previous closing of 44,585.12.
Since resumption of trading after the Eid holidays and the IMF deal, the benchmark index has so far gained 3,701.10 points. On June 27, it had closed at 41,452.69.
As far as the KSE-100 Index is concerned, the Tuesday’s session saw a trading volume of 247,962,924 shares with 72 companies making gains and 22 going down as the stocks of 94 entities were offered on the floor.
CYNERGY remained the volume leader with the trading of 21,630,434 shares. Some other top performers were: Fauji Cement 20,590,500, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 16,008,000, Unity Foods 15,647,858 and Maple Leaf Cement 12,427,159.
The largest gains in share prices were made by Honda Atlas and Air Link Communication – 7.51pc – followed by Thall Limited and Pak Suzuki Motors 7.50pc, and Century Board and Papers Mill 7.49pc.
When it comes to the decliners, Allied Bank topped the list with 2.22pc followed by Pak Gulf Leasing 2.18pc, AGP 1.98pc, Javedan Corporation 1.93pc and Pakistan Services Limited 1.90pc.
Earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that Pakistan had received a $2 billion from Saudi Arabia – a major development given that the IMF is pressing hard to fulfil the requirement of external financing to bridge the current financial year’s requirements.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government had aimed at fetching billions of dollars in investment from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries into the country’s food and agriculture sectors.
Read more: Pakistan eyes GCC's $40bn investment in agri sector in five years
He said that the GCC countries imported food items and agriculture products to the tune of $40 billion annually.
Shehbaz said the step would be taken under the supervision of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), for which the ground has been prepared.
In the next four to five years, he said, there would be an investment of approximately $40 billion in addition to the creation of four million new jobs.
