PSX closed 74pts down to 71,359

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that we expects to reach a Staff-Level Agreement on a bigger loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by June-July this year.

KARACHIL : Pakistan Stock Market Tuesday kicked off the day on a positive note and the KSE-100 index made an intraday high at 71,847 level, +413 points, in the morning. But it closed 74 points down to 71,359 points.

“This market behavior can be accredited to across the board buying in cyclical stocks especially in cement sector in the backdrop of yesterday’s current surplus of $619 million and anticipation of inflation to clock in at 17-18% for April 2024,” the Topline Securities said.

It said that street expectation is scattered from “Status-Quo” to 50-100bps cut in upcoming Monetary Policy, scheduled on next Monday, Apr 29, 2024. Any reduction in interest rates would put further fuel in the fire as far as recent bullish momentum goes at PSX , it added.

However, at the day’s high, profit taking initiated. Resultantly, the benchmark index could not stayed in green zone and called the day at 71,359 levels down 74 points.

Cement, Bank & Autos sector contributed positively to the index as LUCK, UBL, HBL, MTL & MLCF added 161 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, MEB, FABL & OGDC saw some profit taking as they cumulatively lost 135 points.

Almost 653 million shares were traded today at the bourse, while total value landed at Rs 24.4 billion KEL led the volumes chart with the trading of over 67.1 million shares.

Meanwhile, the Gold Prices also went down by Rs 7800 in Karachi Sarafa Market. The Gold is being sold at Rs 240900 per Ounce.

In the market, 10 grams of Gold come down by Rs 6687 to Rs 206533.

Recently, the finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that we expects to reach a Staff-Level Agreement on a bigger loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by June-July this year.

He said this during the 7th Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit on Tuesday. The minister also projected foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan will reach $9-10 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

Aurangzeb emphasized the government’s commitment to growth opportunities and its focus on stabilising the economy. He addressed misconceptions regarding the IMF program and termed it as a collaborative effort to address Pakistan’s economic challenges.