PSX: buying continues, KSE-100 up over 500 points amid IMF deal

Business Recorder reported that buying interest at the Pakistan Stock Exchange pushed the benchmark KSE-100 index more than 500 points higher on Thursday. At 11:10am the index hovered at 169,149.52, up 569.12 points or 0.34%, after the IMF and Pakistan agreed a staff-level deal covering the fourth assessment of the $7-billion Extended Fund Facility and the third assessment of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Board sign-off is still pending, but once the IMF Executive Board approves the deal, Pakistan would be able to draw roughly $1 billion from the EFF and $210 million from the RSF. Combined disbursements under the two facilities would then total about $5.7 billion. Automobile assemblers, cement, banks, exploration firms, oil marketing companies and power producers attracted buying, and index-heavy names such as LUCK, MCB, MEBL, NBP, UBL, MARI, OGDC, PSO and HUBCO were trading higher.

Globally, Asian shares slipped on Thursday as pressure in sovereign bond markets intensified after reports that SpaceX, Broadcom and Oracle were seeking funds to buy AI chips. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.9%, while the euro sank toward 17-month lows on worries about French finances. The KSE-100 had closed at 168,580.41 on Wednesday, adding 120.30 points or 0.07%.