During Friday’s opening trading hours, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) increased by 1,000 points to approximately 48,900.
After global stock market index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) announced that a record 15 Pakistani listed businesses would be included in its MSCI Frontier Market Index, the market attracted a significant amount of fresh buying from investors.
It is anticipated that the change may spark interest from overseas investors in the domestic stock market.
The significant early morning gains were reduced to about 600 points later in the day on profit-taking when the PSX benchmark KSE 100 Index sank to 48,410 points at around 10:50 am.
“Pakistan market rallied 1,000 points in early morning trade,” Topline Securities CEO Muhammad Sohail wrote in a comment, “after MSCI added record Pakistan listed companies to its indices.”
Record 15 listed businesses were added to MSCI Frontier Market’s main index, he remarked on social networking site X. The PSX has good news. At the PSX, net foreign buying of $26 million has already been recorded over the previous six weeks, and more is anticipated in light of this information.
Remember that the market had increased by 20%, or by more than 6,000 points, to a six-year high of 49,000 points in five weeks following the IMF’s decision to approve Pakistan for a $3 billion loan program in late June 2023.
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However, the market returned to profitable selling this week, ahead of the temporary administration’s scheduled general elections for later in 2023.
The market fell below 48,000 points earlier this week at the PSX as a result of intense selling prompted by rumors that the elections would be delayed for a few months.
Market analysts predicted that by the conclusion of the current fiscal year 2023–2024, the stock market would soar to 52,000 points, taking into account a modest rebound in economic growth this year.
Market expansion was also anticipated as a result of optimism that political stability would return following the elections.