The record-breaking spree continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 146,000 level amid a gain of nearly 550 points during the first half of the trading session on Friday.
At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 146,190.66 level, an increase of 543.53 points or 0.37%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, NRL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, MARI, OGDC, POL, and PPL, traded in the green.
On Thursday, PSX extended its record-breaking rally as bullish sentiment persisted amid strong buying from local mutual funds.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index reached another record, making an all-time closing high of 145,647.14 points, which was 558.64 points or 0.39%.
Internationally, Japanese shares surged on Friday after positive earnings reports and expectations that the US would remove overlapping tariffs on the country’s goods, while shares were down in other Asian markets after a late retreat on Wall Street during the previous session.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4% with Hong Kong’s market leading declines, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild losses after nearing a one-week high.
Meanwhile, Japanese stocks soared, with the Nikkei 225 up 2% and the Topix index hitting a fresh record, trading above 3,000 for the first time.
Shares in SoftBank Group rallied as much as 11% after the technology investor reported that it swung back to profit in the first quarter. Sony Group gained 6%, adding to its earnings-fuelled 4.1% advance from Thursday.
US stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4%, on track to extend gains into a third day.
The rally for stocks comes “against the backdrop of an emerging titanic dovish pivot at the Federal Reserve,” said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG in Sydney.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran for the vacant seat at the Federal Reserve while the White House seeks a permanent addition to the central bank’s governing board and continues its search for a new Fed chair.
The market is also digesting a Bloomberg News report that Fed Governor Christopher Waller is the top candidate to replace Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends on May 15, 2026.
This is an intra-day update
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