KARACHI: Pakistan’s benchmark share index closed at another all-time high by registering a 1.2 percent gain as bulls celebrated the arrival of a high-level investment delegation from Saudi Arabia, analysts said on Monday.

The KSE-100 index witnessed a bullish trend, gaining an intraday high of 1,158.65 points that marked a 1.61 percent increase. It closed at 72,764.24 points, up by 1.20 percent.

Stock analysts said the major contributing factor behind the bullish close was the arrival of a 50-member Saudi business delegation in Pakistan for potential investments and a drop in inflation.

“Today’s all the bullish activity was because of the Saudi delegation visiting Pakistan to explore investment opportunities,” Sheheryar Butt, portfolio manager at Darson Securities, told Arab News. 

The delegation, led by Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday. It comprises representatives of some 30 Saudi companies from the fields of IT, telecom, energy, aviation, construction, mining exploration, agriculture and human resource development.

Butt said the encouraging remarks by the visiting Saudi investment minister on Monday also played a key role in keeping the market in the green zone.

Addressing an investment summit in Islamabad, the Saudi minister said Pakistan was a “high priority” economic opportunity and the Kingdom believed in the potential of Pakistan’s economy, demographics and talent as well as location and natural resources.

Speaking at the summit, Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said foreign investment was vital to macroeconomic stability in Pakistan and the visit of Saudi investors was a link in this chain.

Auzrangzeb said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s successful visit to Saudi Arabia opened the way for economic cooperation between the two countries.

“The visit of a delegation of Saudi investors to Pakistan is also a part of paving the way for this economic cooperation,” the minister said. “The government is now moving toward privatization and PIA [Pakistan International Airlines] will also be privatized.”

He said export-led growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) and excess to capital were top priorities of the government, and it was working on short, medium and long-term strategies as well as structural economic reforms.

Ali Nawaz, CEO of Chase Securities, attributed the bullish trend at the stock market to the arrival of the Saudi investment delegation.

“This news likely injected optimism into the market as it suggests potential for increased foreign investment, bolstering investor confidence,” Nawaz said.

Other factors, he said, included a decline in inflation that fueled a positive sentiment.

“Lower inflation rates typically indicate a healthier economic environment, fostering expectations of potential interest rate cuts in the future,” he added.
 

KARACHI: Iran and Pakistan are looking at ways to complete a long-delayed gas pipeline project between the two countries, Iran’s Consul General to Pakistan, Hassan Nourian, said on Monday.

“We see political determination from Pakistan to complete the project,” he told reporters in the southern city of Karachi.

The countries signed an agreement to construct the pipeline from Iran’s South Fars gas field to Pakistan’s Balochistan and Sindh provinces in 2010, but work on Pakistan’s portion has been held up due to fears of US sanctions.

The 1,900 kilometer (1,180 mile) pipeline was meant to supply 750 million to one billion cubic feet per day of natural gas for 25 years to meet Pakistan’s rising energy needs.

Tehran says it has invested $2 billion to construct the pipeline on its territory. Pakistan, however, did not begin construction, citing international sanctions on Iran as the reason.

In 2014, Islamabad asked for a 10-year extension to build the pipeline, which expires in September this year. Iran can take Pakistan to international court, industry watchers have said.

Faced with potential legal action, Pakistan’s caretaker administration this year gave the go ahead in principal to commence plans to build an 80km segment of the pipeline.

In March, Islamabad said it would seek a US sanctions waiver for the pipeline. The US, however, said it did not support the project and cautioned about the risk of sanctions in doing business with Tehran.

Nourian on Monday said the pipeline did not come under international restrictions, and that the two countries were discussing the issue.

He did not answer a question about the potential for Iran to take legal action against Pakistan if it did not complete its side of the pipeline this year.

Pakistan, whose domestic and industrial users rely on natural gas for heating and energy needs, is in dire need for cheap gas with its own reserves dwindling fast and LNG deals making supplies expensive amidst high inflation.

Iran has the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, but sanctions by the West, political turmoil and construction delays have slowed its development as an exporter.