Buying momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged over 3,100 points during Monday’s opening hours of trading.
At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 112,673.18, an increase of 3,160.04 points or 2.89%.
Across-the-board buying was observed in key index sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, SSGC, SNGP, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL traded in the green.
The buying momentum was driven by several indicators including the recent correction that followed the central bank’s decision to cut the policy rate by 200bps, in line with expectations, bringing the rate down to 13%, a total decline of 900bps from its recent peak.
Equities outperformed major asset classes in 2024 in Pakistan as the benchmark KSE-100 Index provided a gain of 75% (Jan 01, 2024, till Dec 20, 2024).
Topline Securities research report said this gain was inclusive of dividends received during this period.
During the previous week, the PSX remained under severe pressure due to heavy selling mainly by mutual funds and year-end profit-taking by institutions. The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 4,788.65 points weekly and closed at 109,513.15 points.
Globally, Asian shares rallied on Monday after a benign reading on U.S. inflation restored some hope for further policy easing next year, while there was relief that Washington had averted a government shutdown.
After the bonanza of recent central bank decisions, this week is much quieter with only the minutes of a few of those meetings due. There are no Federal Reserve speeches and U.S. data is of secondary importance.
Otherwise, the themes were largely the same, with the dollar underpinned by a relatively strong economy and higher bond yields, which in turn is a burden for commodities and gold.
It is also a headache for emerging market countries, which are having to intervene to stop their currencies from falling too far and stoking domestic inflation.
For now, the afterglow from the U.S. inflation report was enough to lift MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, rose 0.3%.
This is an intra-day update
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