Bullish momentum continued unabated at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, as upbeat economic data across multiple sectors drove the benchmark KSE-100 Index up by over 1,500 points in the second half of the trading session.
At 2:55pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 154,211.60, an increase of 1,545.88 points or 1.01%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors including cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP traded in the green.
“Market is up 30% in the ongoing calendar year and almost 4x in the last 2 years,” Amreen Soorani, Head of Research at Al Meezan Investments, told media.
This rally has just brought the market to approx 7x P/E [Price-to-Earnings], still below the historical average of 8x, she shared.
The analyst maintained that the outlook remains positive due to continued fundamentals, with expected corporate profit growth of 8-10% and a dividend yield of 8%.
“However, risks including poor macroeconomic conditions or climate events could disrupt profit growth and/or investor sentiments,” she said.
On Thursday, PSX extended its bullish momentum, marking a record-setting session as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at an all-time high of 152,665.72 points, up 463.85 points or 0.3%.
Globally, Asian stocks tracked Wall Street’s rise to a record high and Treasury yields eased to four-month lows on Friday as traders cemented bets for the Federal Reserve to cut rates this month, even with crucial US jobs data looming later in the day.
Markets are all but certain of a quarter-point cut at the conclusion of the Fed’s two-day rate-setting meeting on September 17, and price a cumulative 60 basis points of reductions this year.
Expectations of an easier monetary environment have supported global equities, and the S&P 500 rose 0.8% on Thursday to finish at a record high.
The Nasdaq climbed 1% to just shy of its own all-time closing high from August 13.
S&P 500 futures pointed 0.1% higher on Friday, and Nasdaq futures advanced 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8% and Taiwan’s stock benchmark climbed 0.8%. Both those markets are close to recent record highs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and mainland Chinese blue chips each added about 0.4%.
Australian stocks gained 0.3%.
This is an intra-day update
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