Karachi, April 14, 2023 (PPI-OT): KSE100 gains 0.4%

Political noise persisted during the week as National Assembly passed bill to curtail Chief Justice’s powers. The market, however, remained stable closing at 40,205 points, gaining 156 points WoW. Sectorwise, banking sector (1.3% WoW) emerged as the top performer. On the news front, the government increased profit rates of the different National Savings Schemes (NSS) during the week. Prolonged delay in the IMF program caused the rupee to plunge to a record low at 288.4 during the week from where it recovered in later sessions on some positive news by the Finance Ministry to 284.9.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asian Department, has shown expectation of the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) to be signed soon. During the week, the government raised Rs144bn through the Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) auction as against a target of Rs100bn. Cut-off yield on the 3-yr PIB increased by 34bp to 18.4%. Moreover, SBP data reported another decline in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves, as it clocked in at US$4.0bn, down US$170mn WoW.