Weekly Roundup: KSE-100 gains; Rupee appreciates against dollar

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish trend in the outgoing week with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining significant 2,585 points to close at 31,350 points.

Over the course of a week, foreign investors sold a total of $4900,000 worth of shares.

Moreover, since the passage of the financial budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, the stringent policies had been reflecting themselves in the downfall of the stock market.

According to a JS Global report, “The local bourse closed positive on the rumors that Pakistan might exit the FATF grey list.” Market analysts are expecting a positive momentum at the bourse in the days to come.

Rupee recovers against the dollar

On the other hand, in the recent weekly unprecedented statistics, the Pakistani currency has appreciated by Rs1.5 against the US dollar in the outgoing week and closed at Rs157.90 in the open market on Friday.

In the interbank market, the rupee gained by 43 paisa against the greenback with slight fluctuation in the whole week and settled at Rs157.52.

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In the earlier weeks, the rupee was observed to cumulatively depreciate against the greenback, which in turn had resulted in increased prices of goods and hardships for the general public.

In the previous weeks, the local currency has depreciated massively despite receiving the first tranche of $991.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The gradual drop in the rupee had come due to high demand for the dollar against thin supply as the country continued to make aggressive international payments to partially pay off huge foreign debt and for imports.

It is anticipated that the US dollar rate would fluctuate for some time, and the value of the Pakistani rupee would stabilise after proper implementation of the economic policies.