Buying rally continued unabated at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 163,000 level, for the first time in history during intra-day trading on Monday.
At 12:55pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 163,051.31, an increase of 794.31 points or 0.49%.
Across-the-board buying momentum was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, POL, PSO, SNGP, SSGC, MCB, MEBL and UBL traded in the green.
The rally comes as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Pakistan Mission Chief Iva Petrova, is in Islamabad to discuss the second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Later in the day, talks between the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the IMF began in Islamabad, with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb chairing the session of discussions with the visiting mission.
During the previous week, the PSX extended its record-setting rally, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing at an all-time high of 162,257 points, up 4,220 points or 2.67% on a week-on-week basis.
The surge was largely driven by strong gains in exploration and production, power and banking sectors, supported by positive developments on the economic and political fronts.
Internationally, most share markets rose in Asia on Monday while the dollar eased as investors braced for a possible shutdown of the US government, which would in turn delay publication of the September payrolls report and a raft of other key data.
President Donald Trump will meet with the top Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress later on Monday to discuss extending government funding. Without a deal a shutdown would begin from Wednesday, which is also when new US tariffs on heavy trucks, pharmaceuticals and other items go into effect.
A protracted closure could leave the Federal Reserve flying blind on the economy when it meets on October 29.
Meanwhile, markets imply a 90% chance of a Fed cut in October, with around a 65% probability of another in December.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%, while Nasdaq futures firmed 0.3%, having eased modestly last week. EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 0.3%, as did FTSE futures and DAX futures.
Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.8%, but was still 5% higher for September so far. Investors are waiting to see who will emerge as the new leader of the ruling LDP in a vote this weekend, with implications for fiscal and monetary policy.
South Korean stocks bounced 1.3%, bringing their gains for the month to 7.6%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.4%, to be up almost 4% for the month.
This is an intra-day update
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