Stocks surge, KSE-100 gains over 1,000 points ahead of MPC

Bullish momentum was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Monday. At 11:20am, the benchmark index was hovering at 170,867.20, an increase of 1,002.68 points or 0.59%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including KE, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, HBL, MEBL, NBP and UBL, traded in the green. Leading economists of the country are pessimistic about a policy rate cut, while saying that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is unlikely to loosen monetary conditions in its upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for Monday, largely due to International Monetary Fund (IMF) pressure to keep the rate “appropriately tight.”