KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned to profit-taking on Friday after hitting its highest close ever in history a session earlier, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 137.02 points (-0.20 percent) to close at 67,005.10 points.
The market opened on a positive note, hit the day’s high within the first few minutes and turned to profit-taking. The benchmark index hit an intra-day low of 66,822.43, but some late-session buying helped it regain the position above 67,000.
Talking to reporters at the PSX on Friday, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government was hopeful of signing a staff-level agreement (SLA) on a new “larger and a longer programme” with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of the current fiscal year. “We are hopeful that by the time we wrap up this fiscal year i.e. end June to early July, we reach at least a staff-level agreement with the IMF,” Aurangzeb said as a gong ceremony was held to welcome the finance minister.
The finance czar also convened a meeting with Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmad to discuss ways to enhance financing and lending to priority sectors to stimulate economic growth and development in the country.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 485.21 points.