Buying spree continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 900 points during the opening hours of trading on Wednesday.
At 10:20am, the benchmark index was hovering at 115,719.63, an increase of 915.47 points or 0.8%.
“We think the market is in a consolidation phase, due to lack of fresh triggers,” said Intermarket Securities in a note.
The brokerage house argued that the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting will be “a key milestone where another large cut of over 100bps or guidance on future stance will determine market direction.”
“The new US administration (coming into office next week) will be keenly watched for any signs of pressure for the release of Imran Khan from jail (however highly unlikely in the near term).”
Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PSO, SSGC, MARI, OGDC, POL, ENGRO, MEBL, NBP and UBL traded in the green.
On Tuesday, a bullish trend continued as the PSX closed on a positive note with healthy gains on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 574.11 points or 0.5% and closed at 114,804.17 points.
Global markets treaded water on Wednesday ahead of US consumer price data that could potentially lower the possibility of a rate cut this year, while investors waited to see if big bank earnings would match sky-high expectations.
US equity futures were slightly firmer in Asia, with S&P 500 futures up 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei, gave up earlier gains to be off 0.1%, extending its losing streak to five days.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, eased 0.1%. China’s blue chips, fell 0.4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, dropped 0.3%.
In other news that broke in Asia, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued tech billionaire Elon Musk for having failed to timely disclose purchasing more than 5% of Twitter’s common stock in 2022.
This is an intra-day update
American Dollar Exchange Rate