Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to close in green on Wednesday after going down in previous two sessions, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 62.34 points (+0.15 percent) to close at 42,012.66 points.
The market opened on a negative note and indices remained in the red territory for the entire session except for the last hour trading when value hunting brought back the index from deep troubles to close above the 42,000 level.
Political turmoil due to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s long march, the uncertainty looming over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan revival programme amid the government’s hesitation to lift up the subsidies on petroleum products, and continuous depreciation of Pakistan rupee against the US dollar kept the market under pressure.
However, Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is finalising the extension of the kingdom’s $3 billion deposit to Pakistan. This factor provided support to the bourse.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 772.39 points, showing an intraday high of 42,128.41 and a low of 41,356.02 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 40.83 points (+0.14 percent) to close at 28,756.73 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 13.35 points (+0.07 percent) to close at 20,530.09 points.
