It was another bullish day at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as thanks to several factors, shares gained over 600 points in intraday trade. Analysts attribute the rally to progress regarding the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
At the time of writing these lines, the KSE-100 index gained 639.22 points, or 0.96 per cent, to stand at 67,187 at 11am from the previous close of 66,547.78 points.
On Wednesday, strong international interest following significant progress toward privatisation of the national flag carrier and optimism about International Monetary Fund (IMF) inflows early next month had triggered a fresh buying spree, tossing the KSE 100-share index to an all-time high closing above the 66,500 level.
On Tuesday the federal cabinet had approved the board of PIA Holding Company. The move was hailed as a significant development in the national carrier’s privatisation process as its liabilities and assets will be transferred to the holding company, which will be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, observed that the rally continued on Thursday with the KSE-100 index crossing the 67,000 mark.
Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, said, “This robust performance is primarily attributable to political clarity, successful staff-level agreement (SLA) with the IMF and initiation of talks with the Fund for a bigger and longer tenure programme.”
He also cited the attractive valuation of the market “as it is still trading at the price-to-earning ration of 4.4x”, adding that foreign interest and inflows in the market helped propel the momentum.
