The benchmark KSE-100 index Wednesday saw an increase of 523 points during early trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index rose 523 points or 0.67 percent to 79,151 at around 11:00am, after closing at 78,628 yesterday. It is pertinent to note that on July 29, the index reached 78,827 points after an increase of 798 or 1.02 percent. Awais Ashraf, director of research at AKD Securities, cited the same reasons, adding that the index rose following reports of China's commitment to support Pakistan in securing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. Notably a day before, while addressing a news conference after returning from China, Muhammad Aurangzeb had said that China has recognised Pakistan's foreign exchange difficulties and played its role in supporting Pakistan's case in the IMF board, also wants to help in new business ventures and re-profiling of energy sector payments.

He stated that the process of debt and equity rescheduling has been initiated and will now go into working groups with relevant financial institutions and sponsors of Chinese projects for which Pakistan is hiring local Chinese consultants. After two consecutive days of sharp decline on July 23, the Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a strong bullish trend today, and the benchmark SE-100 index increased by 917 points. A sharp bearish trend was seen during the last trading day on July 19, when the benchmark KSE-100 index fell by over 1,900 points at one point, but the index lost 1,721 points to close at 80,117. On July 13, after the staff-level agreement with the IMF was reached, the stock market was bullish and on July 15, the KSE-100 index rose 1,211 points to a new high of 81,000. On July 3, the benchmark SE-100 index crossed the psychological threshold of 80,000 points for the first time in history after gaining 680 points. Earlier, the benchmark KSE-100 index rose 877 points to cross the 77,000 mark for the first time in history on June 14 after the budget was presented on June 12.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan