The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish session on Tuesday, fuelled by late-session buying that lifted the benchmark KSE-100 Index by 672 points amid hopes of a policy rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy meeting.
The KSE-100 started the session with range-bound trading, followed by a strong buying spree in the final hours, which helped the index close above 79,000.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 79,286.74, up by 671.73 points or 0.85%.
“This upward momentum was driven by institutional buying in blue-chip stocks,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
“Investor interest was notably strong in the cement sector, ahead of the upcoming monetary policy meeting on September 12, where a rate cut is widely anticipated,” it added.
On Monday, the KSE-100 closed lower by 283 points after late-session selling erased the gains the index had made during intra-day trading.
In a key development, top officials of United States and Pakistan including Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday discussed the establishment of a commodities market in Pakistan.
The development came during a meeting between Aurangzeb and Kevin Piccoli, Deputy Director in the Office of International Affairs at the US Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a statement issued by the Finance Division.
Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) said the company had commenced production of electric vehicle (EVs) at its assembly plant after receiving approval from the Engineering Development Board (EDB).
The listed company shared the development in its notice to the PSX on Tuesday.
Globally, Asian stocks inched slightly higher on Tuesday but struggled to sustain an upbeat rally on Wall Street as concerns about a faltering Chinese economy dampened the market mood.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.14%, languishing near a one-month low hit in the previous session. Its gains were capped by a slump in Chinese stocks.
China’s CSI300 blue-chip index fell to a seven-month trough and last traded 0.52% lower, while the CSI Tourism Index tumbled to a record low, underscoring anaemic consumer demand.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the currency settled at 278.62, a gain of Re0.08 against the US dollar.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 509.49 million from 491.12 million on Monday.
The value of shares rose to Rs13.76 billion from Rs10.12 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 117.01 million shares, followed by Kohinoor Spinning with 57.12 million shares, and Agritech Limited with 18.16 million shares.
Shares of 436 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 202 registered an increase, 170 recorded a fall, while 64 remained unchanged.
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