Stock market opens with jitters as NEC, MPC meet today ahead of budget

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a total loss of 2,124 points over five trading sessions in the outgoing week. Analysts attributed the market jitters to delayed budget. However, the expectations of a slight decrease in central bank’s policy rate also lent strength to the market.

PSX suffers weekly loss of over 2,100 points

The federal government will announce the federal budget FY2024-25 this week, which will continue to impact the stock market sentiment as well. National Economic Council (NEC) and State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are scheduled to meet today to decide the economic targets and policy rate, respectively.

The 13-member NEC is reportedly aiming for 3.6 per cent economic growth target for the upcoming fiscal year. The committee is also expected to roll out the next five-year plan, after reviewing the implementation status of the current year’s economic indicators.

SBP may cut policy rate by 100 bps on Monday

Meanwhile, there are expectations that the MPC will cut the interest rates by 100 bps. At the previous MPC meeting held on April 29, the committee decided to maintain the interest rate at a record high of 22 per cent, marking the seventh consecutive meeting without change.

Amidst all these developments, the benchmark KSE-100 index opens at Friday’s closing of 73,754.01 points on Monday. The market movement is expected to show a cautious trend through the day.