PSX Becomes World’s Best Stock Market After Breaching 45,000 for First Time in 52 Weeks

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish trading session as KSE-100 registered a 52-week high index of 45,160 on Tuesday courtesy of the disbursal of $2 billion cash by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the State Bank of Pakistan.

Monday’s upgrade of Pakistan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘CCC-‘ by Fitch Ratings was another driver for today’s jump.

Clenching 665.36 points, the benchmark KSE 100 jumped to a day’s high of 45,250.49. It settled higher by 570.67 points closing at 45,155.80. The KMI 30 index gathered 857.90 points settling at 76,762.78. While the KSE All share index surged by 390.08 points to end at 30,211.25.

The fresh record stands in tandem with the same level previously seen on 28 April 2022. Today’s surge makes it the best-performing market in the world this month.

Pakistan's stock market breaches its 52-week high 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Its the best performing market in the world this month 🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/LUkD5USaHy

— Faseeh Mangi (@FaseehMangi) July 11, 2023

Economic analyst A H H Soomro told ProPakistani,

The index is now getting clarity over whatever it wished for; IMF package until new govt, painful fiscal and monetary measures, external financing from bilateral and multilateral resources, and material improvement in credit risk compared to the new default scenario.

The initial stability in Rupee and outlook is leading to rerating of the index. KSE-100 still should move towards 4.5-5X P/E after which the path will be determined by much-needed structural reforms.

After opening trade at 44,691.46 points, the market showcased bullish sentiments, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining as much as 574 points or ~1.5 percent after rising to a high of 45,160 points after 1 PM.

During intraday trading, the market soared, adding nearly 510 points to the benchmark KSE-100 index. The index rose 556 points to 45,140 points at 12:50 PM, up from the previous close of 44,585 points.

At 13:45, the market was at the 45,062 level, up by 478 points.

It is expected that imminent inflows as a result of approval from the IMF Executive Board in tomorrow’s agenda meeting should push the PSX even further.

The shared confidence among market players and investors is widely expected to support the exchange rate as well.

Overall market volumes appreciated from 439.14 million shares in the previous session to 548.96 million shares. Total traded value inched up from Rs. 12.08 billion on Monday to Rs.15.42 billion today.

Top Volumes

SCRIP	PRICE	HIGH	LOW	CHANGE	VOLUME
WTL	1.27	1.28	1.25		35,089,048
PRL	16.85	17.44	16.1	0.67	31,421,276
FFL	6.76	6.85	6.27	0.41	23,204,209
TPLP	14.05	14.54	13.96	0.03	21,785,003
CNERGY	3.25	3.33	3.14	0.1	21,648,908
ASL	6.35	6.55	5.94	0.43	20,736,365
FCCL	13.14	13.14	12.7	0.51	20,590,500

According to Capital Stake, the highest participation was witnessed in Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL +0.79%) with 35.07 million shares traded, followed by Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL +3.50%) and Fauji Foods Limited (FFL +6.79%). The scrips had 31.40 million shares and 23.19 million shares traded, respectively.

Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE 100 index higher included, Banking sector (194.57 points), the Cement sector (93.76 points) and Oil and Gas Exploration sector (81.66 points). Company-wise, Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL 67.49 points), Bank Al Habib Limited (BAHL 55.65 points), and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL 37.78 points) drove the index north.

The Cement sector gained 2.57 percent in its cumulative market capitalization. Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK 2.10 percent), Bestway Cement Limited (BWCL 1.33 percent), Fauji Cement Company Limited (FFCL 4.45 percent), and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF 3.03 percent), all closed positive.

Meanwhile, equity markets around the world showed a positive trend. At 16:00, crude oil prices moved north with WTI crude oil price rising by 0.48 percent to $73.34, while Brent crude oil price was up by 0.42 percent to $78.02.