Pakistan's main bourse hits all-time high ahead of 40% stake sale

Karachi: Hitting an all-time high on Saturday, Pakistan's main bourse Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crossed 45,000 ahead of the proposed sale of its 40 per cent stake next week.

PSE will sell 40 percent of its stake to Chinese and British consortia among the prospective buyers.

Shahzad Chamdia, who heads the PSX divestment committee, confirmed bids would be opened on December 15 for the sale of 40 per cent share of the PSX.

He said around 17 entities had shown interest in the shares of the PSX which is one of the best performing indexes in the world this year with an increase of 38 per cent.

The PSX saw a bullish run which continued unabated in an across the board buying. At the week's close, PSX's benchmark KSE 100-share index finished with a rise of 1.44 per cent or 645.25 points to finish at 45,387.23 its highest finish yet.

A chinese consortium of Shangai stock exchange, Shenzen stock exchange and a chinese fund were among the leading bidders while a consortium of British financial companies headed by Nasdaq technology were also among the prospective bidders.

The deal is expected to fetch the PSX around USD 225 million although at present the PSX is owned by around 300 Pakistani brokers. 

With PTI Inputs