Sentiment at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained positive on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index staying in the green during the first half of the trading session.
At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 169,530.82, an increase of 956.13 points or 0.57%.
Buying was observed in key sectors, including power generation, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, fertilizer and commercial banks. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, HBL, MCB, MEBL, NBP, MARI and POL, traded in the green.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slapped 11 new structural benchmarks (SBs) on Pakistan, including developing and publishing a comprehensive medium-term (3 to 5 years) tax reform strategy, asset declarations of high-level federal civil servants and an action plan to mitigate corruption vulnerabilities in identified departments.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s central bank is expected to retain interest rates at 11% on Monday as analysts push back rate-cut forecasts to late 2026 after the IMF warned inflation risks persist and policy must stay “appropriately tight”.
On Thursday, PSX witnessed a mixed session with major indices closing predominantly lower amid cautious investor sentiment as investors engaged in profit-taking and cautious trading amid uncertainty over market direction. The KSE-100 Index fell by 877.17 points, or 0.52%, to close at 168,574.69 points.
Globally, Asian stocks advanced in early trade on Friday following strength on Wall Street overnight, though a fresh decline in Oracle’s share price sent jitters through the tech sector.
Financial markets had to move fast to find their footing this week when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates but gave a less hawkish outlook than expected, and the return of AI bubble worries added to the stress for investors.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7%, tracking mostly higher US markets on Thursday – the Dow and Russell 2000 indices hit new highs, but the Nasdaq fell.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 outperformed the region in morning trade, climbing 1% as shares in Softbank Group surged 6% after Bloomberg News reported it is considering acquiring the US data centre company Switch Inc.
S&P 500 e-mini futures were unchanged, and Nasdaq futures were down 0.2% as markets were on edge after Oracle shares plunged 13%, sparking a tech selloff, as the company’s massive spending and weak forecasts fanned doubts over how quickly the big bets on AI will pay off.
This is an intra-day update
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