After observing selling pressure in the opening hours of trading, positive momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 3,000 points on Thursday.
At 12:25pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 167,678.68, an increase of 3,052.39 points or 1.85%.
Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO, SNGPL, WAFI, HBL and MEBL, traded in the green.
Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that Pakistan will hold detailed discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the third economic review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, while dismissing concerns about the rollover of deposits from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The IMF review will cover all performance criteria under the programme. We are in a good position, particularly about tax collection,” the finance minister said, while speaking to the media on Monday, expressing confidence over the government’s fiscal management.
On Wednesday, the PSX witnessed a broad-based decline as persistent selling pressure and futures rollover activity kept investors cautious, dragging key benchmark indices lower amid reduced ready-market activity and volatile intraday movements. The benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 164,626.29 points, losing 1,632.25 points or 0.98%.
Internationally, Asian stocks advanced on Thursday after upbeat earnings from Nvidia soothed concerns over AI-driven disruption and rising costs, while the yen was in the doldrums, bogged down by a murky rate outlook in Japan.
Lingering worries about escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran, meanwhile, kept oil prices elevated, ahead of a third round of talks between the two countries later on Thursday.
Nvidia on Wednesday forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates, betting on Big Tech’s unabated spending on its AI processors. The result, which had been closely watched by investors, quelled some fears about the massive spending companies are pouring into all things AI.
That helped propel Japan’s Nikkei to a record high early in the session, while South Korea’s KOSPIwas up 2%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7%.
This is an intra-day update
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