Bulls continued to dominate the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday as the market surged following the announcement of a staff-level agreement (SLA) between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The KSE-100 Index soared by over 1,500 points in early trading, reflecting renewed investor confidence in the country’s economic stability.
At 9:35 am, the benchmark KSE-100 Index was recorded at 167,042.55, showing an increase of 1,566.53 points or 0.95%. The strong upward trend was driven by heavy buying across multiple sectors, including automobiles, cement, banking, energy exploration, oil marketing, and power generation. Major companies such as HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, SSGC, SNGPL, MCB, MEBL, and UBL all traded positively.
The rally was fueled by Pakistan’s recent agreement with the IMF, which provides crucial financial support and signals a step toward economic recovery. The IMF confirmed that Pakistan and the fund have reached a staff-level agreement for the second review under the 37-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
The agreement, once approved by the IMF’s Executive Board, will allow Pakistan to access nearly $1.2 billion, comprising around $1 billion under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF. With this, the total disbursements under both programs will rise to approximately $3.3 billion.
The positive momentum follows Tuesday’s record-breaking performance, when the KSE-100 Index surged by 7,032.60 points to close at 165,476.02, one of the biggest single-day gains in PSX history. The rally underscores strong market optimism driven by the IMF deal, a stable currency, and improving investor sentiment.
On the global front, Asian markets also gained after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the Fed’s tightening cycle may be nearing its end. The remarks, combined with better-than-expected U.S. bank earnings and the IMF’s upgraded global growth forecast for 2025, lifted international investor confidence.
MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index (excluding Japan) rose by 0.45%, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.8% after a previous decline. Meanwhile, U.S. Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures both showed slight increases of 0.1%, signaling continued optimism across global financial markets.
