KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to regain its upward rally on the last trading day of the week after recording some correction in the previous session and early this morning. Traders said the correction yesterday after a four-day upward streak proved positive for the market to consolidate before moving ahead.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 353.69 points (0.76 percent) to 47,144.44 points by the mid-day Friday break. The Index went as low as 46.698.23 points during the trade in the first session. The market started the day in positive but the pending orders of sale due to profit-taking yesterday pushed the market in negative territory almost immediately at the start of the day.
The positive news flow from the economic front such as an increase in country’s foreign reserves and political developments such as talks between Pakistan and Russia boosted investors’ interest in the market, traders and analysts said. Meanwhile, the situation on the COVID-19 front seems quite under control, with the grace of Allah, they added.
According to the latest figures shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country’s forex reserves reached $23,015m. The reserves increased by $88m to $15,862m, due to the government’s official inflows, the central bank said in a statement. The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which closed above US$16bn are now on the highest level since July 2017.
Pakistan reported 2,482 new COVID-19 infections while 67 people lost their lives, according to the latest statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The positivity ratio was recorded at 4.8 per cent across the country.
