Stocks surge, KSE-100 gains over 1,000 points in early trade

Bullish sentiment 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 Thursday. At 9:35am, the benchmark index was hovering at 166,704.11, an increase of 1,017.73 points or 0.61%. Buying interest was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, POL, PPL, SSGC, PRL, HUBCO, HBL, MCB and UBL, traded in the green. In a key development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) with the Pakistani authorities on Wednesday. The SLA is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, upon which Pakistan will receive disbursement of $1.2 billion.