Dollar climb continues, rises to Rs200.50 in interbank trade
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained positive on Friday amid the government’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loan revival programme, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 117.25 points (+0.27 percent) to close at 43,100.70 points.
The market opened on a positive note and remained positive during the first half of the session. During the second half, the market took a dip soon after the news came that the ruling party faced a major blow in Punjab after the Election Commission of Pakistan de-seated 25 dissident lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who were supporting the provincial government.
However, the indices switched back to the green territory within 20 minutes and closed the session on a positive note. A slowness in rupee’s depreciation, that has been going on for a month, also provided support to the market. Moreover, the upcoming meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank, scheduled for Monday, also did not impact the market negatively, as is usually seen a day before such meetings.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 247.2 points, showing an intraday high of 43,185.80 and a low of 42,938.60 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 97.54 points (+0.33 percent) to close at 29,347.4 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 70.31 points (+0.33 percent) to close at 21,072.34 points. The US dollar, which had closed at a historic high of Rs200 on Thursday, extended its gains against the rupee for the 11th consecutive session today (Friday) after it gained another 50 paisa in interbank trading, even as the government moved to ban imports in a bid to arrest the rupee’s slide.According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the greenback was being traded at Rs200.50 around 10:45am.
