The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a rally in the initial trading session after the State Bank of Pakistan announced no change in policy rates and the ‘KSE-100 Index’ gained more than 500 points.
The benchmark KSE-100 index, which was in a bearish position yesterday, rose 536 points or 1.25 percent to 43,363 points by 10:10 am, later, it was down 369 points or 1.25 percent during trading till 1:00 pm. There was a decrease of 0.86%.
Ali Malik, Chief Executive of First National Equities Limited, said that the decision of the State Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to maintain the policy rate at 15 percent for the next 2 months is a positive ‘surprise’ for the Pakistan Stock Exchange. However, yesterday’s announcement boosted investor confidence.
He further said that it is expected that the market may start a further upward journey from here, if the political stability in the country is maintained, the stock market may cross the 45 thousand points mark in the coming days. Ali Malik further said that the continuous increase in the volume of buying and selling of shares in the share market is an indication that investors are making new deals.
Raza Jaffrey, head of research at Intermarket Securities, noted that the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold is the first such decision since monetary tightening started in September last year. He further said that the political environment is hot but the situation is improving due to continuity in economic policies.