KARACHI, August 15(ABC): Stocks rallied Monday following news of Saudi Arabia’s plans to renew the $3 billion deposit with Pakistan and the hopes of the International Monetary Fund programme’s (IMF) revival.
Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark index KSE-100 opened today’s trade at 42,857.57 points, however, later it went up by 764.25 points or 1.78% and closed at 43,621.82 points.
Capital market expert Muhammad Saad Ali said rising optimism around the resumption of the IMF programme and appreciation of the rupee have improved market sentiments.
“Note that the market was trading at multi-year low valuations of below 4x forward price-to-earnings prior to the recent run-up,” the capital market expert told.
Not only did the stocks rally during the intraday trade, but the Pakistani rupee also continued to strengthen against the US dollar for the tenth successive session in the interbank market.
The local unit further gained Rs1.51 after over a week of its uptrend, with the greenback closing at Rs213.98 after its depreciation in the interbank market.
Alpha Beta Core CEO Khurram Schehzad said the stock market was recovering after the confidence of the investors — who were earlier jittery — was restored.