From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surpassed the milestone of 57,000 points, hitting a new all-time high during early trading hours on Thursday following the staff-level approval by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan tranche of $700 million.
The successful completion of the first IMF review of the domestic economy also helped the Pakistani rupee as it made a significant recovery of over Rs2 to a one-week high of Rs286 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.
PSX benchmark KSE-100 index was up by 493 points, hovering at a record high of 57,173 points before mid-day.
Commenting on the stock market’s record-breaking spree, PSX MD Farrukh Khan said the timely completion of the IMF review played a pivotal role in taking the market to a new high.
He added that the caretaker government has taken some tough economic decisions which is supporting the ongoing rally at PSX.
PSX has gained over 4,000 points during the past 10 days.
It has increased by over 34% in one year in the wake of early signs of economic recovery and the announcement of the forthcoming general election date.
The rebound in the rupee-dollar exchange rate has ended the downward trend seen in the previous 17 consecutive working days.
The currency had closed at a seven week low of Rs288.14/$ on Wednesday, having lost around 4% or around Rs11 in the past 17 working days.
