Positive momentum was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 115,000 level amid a gain of over 1,000 points during intra-day trading on Thursday.
At 12:20pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 115,104.63 level, an increase of 1,020.10 points or 0.89%.
Buying was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including MARI, OGDC, PPL, HUBCO, ARL, PSO, SSGC, HBL, MCB and MEBL traded in the green.
On Wednesday, PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 closed marginally lower after the index failed to sustain its gains during intra-day trading and settled at 114,084.54.
In a major banking development, global rating agency Moody’s improved Pakistan’s banking outlook from stable to positive on Wednesday.
Internationally, tech stocks led advances in Asia on Thursday, taking their cue from Wall Street’s gains after tepid inflation data allayed concerns over the state of the US economy.
US Treasury yields remained elevated after pulling further away from recent lows the day before, on escalating tit-for-tat tariff battles between the United States and trading partners.
The euro was steady after slipping back from a five-month high on Wednesday when President Donald Trump warned of a response to the European Union’s threatened counter-tariffs on US goods.
However, the shared currency continued to garner support from signs of progress towards peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.9%, buoyed by advances in chip-sector heavyweights such as Advantest and Tokyo Electron.
Taiwan’s tech-heavy equities index added 0.6%, and South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.7% Mainland Chinese blue chips edged up 0.1%, although Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated from small early gains to be down 0.3%.
The US S&P 500 advanced 0.5% on Wednesday, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.2%, with beaten-down megacap tech shares rebounding sharply. Futures in both indexes pointed 0.1% higher on Thursday.
This is an intra-day update
