ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's main stock market closed at a four-year high on Wednesday as investors cheered the central bank's decision to cut its key policy rate, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index gained 58.95 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 14,970.92, its highest close since April 2008. The volume of shares traded was 135.996 million.
“The positive trend in the market is because of the cut in the discount rate by the State Bank (of Pakistan) last week,” said Shuja Rizvi, a trader at Al-Hoqani Securities.
“The rise we saw today was a continuation of the rally on Monday.”
The State Bank of Pakistan in its monetary policy announcement on Aug 10 lowered its key policy rate from 12 per cent to 10.5 per cent.
In the currency market, the rupee strengthened slightly to close at 94.32/39 to the dollar, compared with 94.42/48 on Monday. Financial markets in Pakistan were closed on Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday.
Overnight rates in the money market closed lower at 8.50 per cent, compared with 10.40 per cent on Monday.
