KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) began the new year by crossing the 64,000 barrier on Monday during the the intraday trading. 

The benchmark KSE-100 index, in its first trading session of 2024, reached 64,023.98 points, up by 1,572.94 or 2.52% from the previous close of 62,451.04 points.

Head of Equities at Intermarket Securities, Raza Jafri, attributes the surge to energy stocks on expectations of dividend payouts as the result season approaches with the government looking serious about addressing circular debt.

“There are also expectations of greater institutional flows into equities with monetary easing expected to commence within the next few months,” Jafri told the publication.

On the last trading session of 2023, stocks gained 0.64% as investors cheered the rise in foreign exchange reserves and the inflow of loans from multilateral lenders, The News reported on Saturday citing analysts.

The market was buoyed by the central bank’s announcement that its foreign exchange reserves increased by $853 million to $7.8 billion in the week ending December 22, thanks to financial support from bilateral and multilateral sources.

‘Best year since 2010’

Meanwhile, the PSX capped its best year since 2010 as the KSE-100 index ended 2023 with a 55% gain, the third-best among global markets in local currency terms.

The index also rose 24% in dollar terms, outpacing the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which gained 18%.

Looking ahead, analysts were optimistic about the prospects of the market in 2024, as they expect the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) program to continue, the currency to remain stable, the interest rates to decline, the earnings to grow, and the valuations to improve.

“We expect the local bourse to remain in the green zone,” stated brokerage Arif Habib Ltd.

“Moreover, we expect an influx of fresh liquidity amid the January effect. Moreover, the scrips are trading at attractive valuations, and are expected to further boost positive sentiment at the index.”