Bulls continued their stampede at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as shares gained over 600 points in intraday trade as analysts attributing the rally to progress regarding the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
The KSE-100 index gained 639.22 points, or 0.96 per cent, to stand at 67,187 at 11am from the previous close of 66,547.78 points.
Arif Habib Limited, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) at 10:50am, said the index had crossed previous high level of 67,094 on intraday basis.
A day earlier, strong international interest following significant progress towards privatisation of the national flag carrier and optimism about International Monetary Fund (IMF) inflows early next month had triggered a fresh buying spree, tossing the KSE 100-share index to an all-time high closing above 66,500 level.
It should be mentioned that on Tuesday the federal cabinet had approved the board of PIA Holding Company. The move was hailed as a significant development in the national carrier’s privatisation process as its liabilities and assets will be transferred to the holding company, which will be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Speaking to Dawn.com today, Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, observed that the rally continued with with the KSE-100 index cross yet another all-time high of 67,000.
He attributed the the upward trajectory to “foreign and local institutions buying” along with positive news on the privatisation front and a new deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, said, “This robust performance is primarily attributable to political clarity, successful Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the IMF and initiation of talks with the fund for bigger and longer tenure programme.”
Additionally, he cited reasons such as attractive valuation of the market “as it is still trading at the price-to-earning ration of 4.4x” and foreign interest and inflow in the market helped propel the momentum.
More to follow