Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rose immediately after the opening bell on Wednesday on hopes that the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme would be completed soon which would unlock $1.2 billion along with inflows from friendly countries.
At 12:08 PM, the benchmark KSE-100 index was risen 856.79 points, or 2.19 percent, to 39,912.44 points.
Fahad Rauf, the head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, said there were growing hopes that the government will act to restart the IMF programme, which would avoid the country from going into default.
He noted that exploration and production stocks were performing well on expectations that the circular debt would be reduced and gas prices hiked.
Salman Naqvi of Aba Ali Habib Securities agreed with Rauf’s assessment and pointed out that the unofficial ceiling on the open market’s USD-PKR exchange rate would be lifted today.
Adherence to a market-based currency rate was one of the IMF’s main requirements, and removing the ceiling would pave the way for the Fund programme to resume, he said. This clearly shows that the administration intends to meet the IMF’s requirements, which has a positive impact on the market.
Moreover, he noted out that the interest rate was increased by 1 percent on Monday, which was less than the 1.5 to 2 percent market expected, and that this had a beneficial impact on the cement and steel industries.
Today’s open market depreciation of the PKR was expected to be between 15 and 20 rupees, benefiting the technology, exploration, and production sectors, according to Naqvi.
“Uncertainty is reducing because if we resume the IMF programme, other countries will also provide help which will ease the foreign exchange reserves crisis,” he commented.
The removal of the price cap and the government’s efforts to restart the IMF programme, according to Topline Securities Senior Manager Equity Mohammad Arbash, were both good for the market.
“The market is rising as a result of short covering and reinvestments. The volume has been extremely encouraging thus far. The general public has also returned to the market, said Ali Malik, CEO of First National Equities.
As of January 13, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have drastically decreased to a worrisome $4.6 billion level, which is insufficient to pay for even three weeks’ worth of imports. The ninth evaluation of a $7 billion IMF programme, which would have released $1.2 billion, has been ongoing for months.
The government was now prepared to take the bitter pill of the IMF’s “stringent” requirements to renew the loan programme, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s comments on Tuesday.
“We are ready and want to sit down regarding your [IMF’s] conditions so that [the review] can be concluded and Pakistan moves forward,” he said at an event in Islamabad.
“I spoke to the IMF managing director two weeks ago and we have proactively approached them… so that the programme moves forward, in addition to other multilateral and bilateral programmes,” he added.
Separately, Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (Ecap) Chairman Malik Bostan announced that an unofficial cap on the USD-PKR exchange rate would be removed today.
