PSX touches record high as SCO summit concludes and earnings rally

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) jumped over 350 points on Wednesday (yesterday), as the earnings season continues and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit successfully concludes.

The economic commitments linked to the SCO summit lend strength to the investor sentiment and brought a major boost for the trading activity. The trading volumes increased to 474.3 million shares, up from 422.1 million shares on Tuesday.

PSX rallies amid higher earnings, political stability

Power sector also showed recovery after the government announced payments to independent power producers (IPPs) and the introduction of new “take-and-pay” agreements for 18 IPPs.

Trading opened on an optimistic note adding to the growth witnessed on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index crossing the 86,000 points threshold to reach at intra-day high at 86,513.46 points. The lowest of the day was at 85,948.05 points, but the market soon rebounded to close with solid gains at 86,205.66 points.

Market analysts said that easing political tensions and the potential for economic stabilisation, stemming from the SCO summit, helped drive investor confidence. The discussions around the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) also helped the sentiment.

Govt clears Rs1.54 trillion in debt, repays Rs1.11 trillion to SBP

Despite all of this, foreign investors continued to remain net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 87.65 million during the session.