PSX Up Over 1,100 Points As IMF, Elections, Interest Rate Gossip Carry KSE-100 Above 56,500

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rallied to a new all-time high in the week’s first trading session as bulls took control of the market on expectations of a successful IMF review, interest rate cuts in future SBP market reviews, and clarity on upcoming General Elections.

After opening trade at 55,391 points, the benchmark KSE-100 index went up by 1.46 percent or 809 points at 11 AM to a new high of 56,200. At 12:35 PM, it jumped to 56,348, up by 1.73 percent or 957 points.

Economic analyst A H H Soomro told ProPakistani, “Valuation-wise, this was always on the cards. But the sentiments have turned overly positive. Not that the downside will take it to 45,000 or 48,000 but some moderation is warranted. The prices are rerating fast in expectations of a successful IMF review and expected interest rate cuts along with increased odds of PML-N winning”.

“Some moderation should be expected but the index still offers an upside on main blue chip sectors. Thus, this rally is fundamentally justified and sustainable,” Soomro added.

At 2:15 PM, the KSE-100 index clocked in at 56,428, up by 1,037 points. It was up by 1,192 points at 56,583 at 3:10 PM.

It settled with a gain of 1,132 points closing at 56,523.

The KMI 30 index gathered 1,889 points settling at 96,345, while the KSE All share index surged by 594 points to close at 37,389.

Commenting on today’s bulls, Deputy Head of Research at JS Global Waqas Ghani said, “Pakistan Stock Exchange saw a bullish trend today as the KSE-100 index maintained its upward momentum, reaching unprecedented highs. Investor optimism is evident, driven by increased confidence stemming from potential improvements in key macro indicators following implemented reforms”.

The highest participation was witnessed in Worldcall Telecom Limited (PSX: WTL) with over 100 million shares traded, followed by Cnergyico PK Limited (PSX: CNERGY) and Hum Network Limited (PSX: HUMNL). The scrips had 60.6 million shares and 32.4 million shares traded, respectively.

According to Arif Habib Limited, the average traded volume at PSX witnessed a 2.5-years high. The average daily traded volume increased by 2 percent day-on-day (DoD) to 654 million shares (highest since July 1, 2021) while Average daily traded value increased by 5 percent DoD to 22.3 billion shares (highest since November 30, 2021).

Average traded volume at PSX witnessed a 2.5-years high

Average daily traded volume increased by 2% DoD to 654mn shares (highest since 1st Jul’21) while Average daily traded value increased by 5% DoD to 22.3bn shares (highest since 30th Nov’21).@Pakstockexgltd#KSE100 #PSX… pic.twitter.com/F66yVYzSos

— Arif Habib Limited (@ArifHabibLtd) November 13, 2023

CEO of Alpha Beta Core Securities, Khurram Schehzad told ProPakistani, “PSX is up in terms of index, however, its market value is still 70% lower than what it achieved in May 2017. Market multiples are still at around 4x forward earnings”.

He opined that short-term recovery can be attributed to

1. IMF review on track (though technical and policy level tasks remain),
2. clarity on elections, and
3. interest rates expected to be cut (direction change) from 2024 onwards (though need to be cautious as IMF may not let it happen).

“This is short-term. The medium to long-term sustainability of the economy and the markets are still dependent on structural reforms in energy, debt, SOEs, taxes, and so on”, he added.

Top Volumes

SCRIP	PRICE	HIGH	LOW	CHANGE	VOLUME
WTL	1.36	1.43	1.33	0.04	100,667,191
CNERGY	4.68	4.95	4.61	-0.08	60,660,030
HUMNL	7.19	7.65	7.11	0.02	32,453,500
PRL	23.02	23.65	22.95	-0.09	23,829,905
SEARL	52.51	52.77	48.8	3.47	21,840,807
MLCF	38.26	38.5	36.95	1.13	21,773,567
TELE	7.81	7.92	7.4	0.32	17,713,707

Meanwhile, equity markets around the world were largely positive. At 16:10 PKT, crude oil prices were green with WTI crude oil price rising by 0.06 percent to $77.22, while Brent crude oil was up by 0.04 percent to $81.46.