A volatile session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came to a positive end on Friday, helping the KSE-100 Index snapped a 4-day losing streak on late-session buying.
The KSE-100 witnessed volatile trading for most part of the day, hitting an intra-day high of 113,554.07 and intra-day low of 112,013.59.
It was followed by a strong buying spree in the final hours, which pushed the index back into the positive territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 113,247.29, up by 609.03 points or 0.54%.
The index closed positive after 4 consecutive sessions in which it lost nearly 5,000 points.
“KSE-100 Index declined by -3.69% on WoW [week-on-week] basis, this decline in market can be attributed to profit taking during the outgoing week,” brokerage house Topline Securities said.
In a key development, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released data on Friday showing that the inflow of overseas workers’ remittances into Pakistan stood at $3.08 billion in December 2024, 6% higher than the $2.92 billion in November 2024.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) restarted flight operations between Islamabad and Paris starting Friday, January 10, 2025, following the European Union’s removal of restrictions on the carrier.
Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) started gas production from Takri-1 exploration well located in the Jamshoro district of Sindh. The E&P, a key supplier of natural gas in the country, shared the development in its notice to the PSX.
Globally, European shares edged lower on Friday as elevated government bond yields weighed on stocks, with attention now turning to US jobs data for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.1% by 0941 GMT, but remained on track for its strongest week in a month.
Yields on European government bonds remained elevated, with the German 10-year bund yield hitting its highest level in six months.
China and Hong Kong stocks dropped, as traders held off on increasing their market investments and awaited fresh stimulus measures from Beijing.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.5% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4%. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 278.58 after a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 499.85 million from 695.14 million on Thursday.
However, the value of shares increased to Rs24.83 billion from Rs24.29 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 68.83 million shares, followed by Fauji Foods Ltd with 31.85 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 31.58 million shares.
Shares of 450 companies were traded on Friday, of which 177 registered an increase, 218 recorded a fall, while 55 remained unchanged.
American Dollar Exchange Rate