Midday Report: KSE-100 rises by 417 points

July 13, 2023 (MLN): Pakistani stock market rides a wave of positivity owing to the approval of the 9-month Stand-By-Agreement (SBA) for Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board for an amount of $3 billion on Wednesday.

As a result, the KSE-100 Index has gained 417 points so far [11:55 PST] and currently trading at the 45,932.20 mark, up by 0.92%.

The IMF board has made a decision for immediate disbursement of $1.2bn to support the authorities’ economic stabilization program.

The aforementioned development comes after the long-standing Staff Level Agreement (SLA) worth $3bn was finally signed between IMF and Pakistan on June 29, 2023.

Pakistan’s new SBA-supported program has started to pave new ways for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.

As a result, in the past three days, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received a $2bn deposit from Saudi Arabia and a $1bn deposit from United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Investors’ confidence sparked when Fitch Ratings upgraded Pakistan's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CCC' from 'CCC-'. Upgrades from other agencies may follow.

Moreover, the economy is moving towards stability with increasing Foreign Exchange Reserves and strengthening PKR.

However, the loans will allow the country to pay its debts through April 2024, more aid will be needed after that, Bloomberg reported.

Sectors propping up the Index were Commercial Banks with 92.60 points, Oil & Ga Exploration Companies with 81.09 points, Chemical with 44 points, Power generation and distribution with 33 points, Technology & communication with 30.78 points, and Pharmaceuticals with 29.52 points.

The most points added to the Index were by COLG which contributed 45.08 points followed by POL with 33.52 points, MEBL with 29.38 points, and BAHL with 26.76 points.

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