Positive sentiment prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the parliament passed the budget for fiscal year 2024-2025. The benchmark KSE-100 index gained over 400 points during the opening hours of the trading session on Thursday.
At 10:30am, the benchmark index was hovering at 78,695.00, an increase of 419.36 points or 0.54%. It earlier hit an intra-day high of 78,978.60.
Buying was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs.
On Wednesday, the National Assembly approved 117 demands for grants worth Rs6.87 trillion to meet expenditures of various federal ministries and their departments during the financial year ending June 30, 2025 by rejecting all the cut motions of opposition.
On Wednesday, the PSX witnessed bullish sentiment, as the benchmark KSE-100 index closed higher by 335 points to settle at 78,275.65.
Globally, Asian shares fell and bond yields spiked on nervousness about inflation on Thursday, while the yen’s slide past 160-per-dollar had currency traders bracing for Japan to step in and steady it.
The jittery mood had frothy sectors of financial markets especially vulnerable and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.5%.
Shares in bellwether chipmaker Micron Technology slid 8% in US after-hours trade as it met rather than topped lofty revenue expectations.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.5%, with some of the largest losses in Australia where rate sensitive stocks sank following Wednesday’s data showing a surprise jump in inflation.
This is an intra-day update
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