Stocks stayed the winning course on Wednesday, reaching a record high of over 86,400 points, largely due to the finance minister’s affirmation that inflation and policy rates were anticipated to retreat to touch new lows, traders said.
Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) KSE-100 Shares Index hit an intraday high of 86,437 points, up 773 points, at 11:58pm.
This bolstered economic hopes, while sentiments were also buoyed by reports that Saudi Arabia was set to sign a $2 billion agreements with Pakistan.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, on Tuesday, hinted at a further drop in consumer price inflation and the central bank’s policy rates in the coming months.
“The government has strived hard to bring about economic stability,” said the finance minister asserting the efforts of the ruling coalition have started paying off.
Investors flocked to index-heavy stocks, including automobile manufacturers, commercial banks, fertiliser companies, oil and gas exploration firms, and oil marketing companies.
Blue-chip stocks like Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) remained in the limelight.
Announcing that the much-resisted structural economic reforms were finally underway, the finance czar forecast the inflationary pressures to ease further and the central bank’s hawkish monetary outlook to continue. “Inflation has dropped to single digits,” said Aurangzeb expecting it to hit new lows.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation fell to 6.9% year-on-year in September 2024, the lowest since January 2021, down from 9.6% in August, driven by the high base effect, easing commodity and energy markets, and a stable currency, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Last month, the SBP’s Monetary Policy Committee slashed the key policy rate by 200bps to 17.5% from 19.5%, citing a steep fall in both headline and core inflation over the past two months.
