Pakistan's stock market soared more than 1,000 points, to a two-year high crossed 48,000 points

 business report:

Pakistan's stock market soared more than 1,000 points, to a two-year high crossed 48,000 points  in early trade on Monday.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained a strong rally due to "investment optimism from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates along with the Pakistan Minerals Summit helping investor confidence,".

Saudi Arabia has been in talks with Barrick Gold to invest in Pakistan's multi-billion dollar copper reserves. The investment can help the country earn much-needed US dollars and build foreign exchange reserves.

Besides, the Chinese Vice Premier arrived in Islamabad for a two-day visit to mark the 10-year anniversary of CPEC. This is another positive development for Pakistan where a lot of good and bad is happening at the global level.

The strong rally on the PSX was also attributed to the expected announcement of the new benchmark interest rate by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the next six weeks today (Monday).

Financial experts are divided on whether the bank will raise rates by 100 basis points or leave them unchanged at the current all-time high of 22%.

Since Pakistan received the latest $3 billion credit facility from the IMF in June 2023, the market has risen about 16% or 6,600 points year-to-date, according to Arif Habib Limited.

Pakistan's assemblies are also due to dissolve next month ahead of general elections later this year.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged an unwavering commitment to the recent $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ensuring that the interim arrangement that will take over after his government's tenure will also fully comply with the agreement.