The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its record-breaking run, as the benchmark KSE-100 crossed the 89,000 level for the first time during intra-day trading on Thursday.
At 3:10pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 88,937.04, an increase of 1,742.51 points or 2%. It hit a high of 89,126.15, which is now its record intra-day level.
Across-the-board buying was witnessed in index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation.
Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, KEL, OGDC, PPL, PSO and NBP traded in the green.
Market experts attributed the buying spree to various factors.
“Expectations of a policy rate cut and lower yields on government securities are driving investment in equities,” Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research and Development at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Private) Limited, told media.
Moreover, “better corporate results” are also fueling this momentum.
Meanwhile, Arif Habib Limited (AHL) stated that “this remarkable performance reflects a 41.0% gain CYTD in 2024 (4th high-performing equity market in the world) and 8.5% MoM increase”.
On Wednesday, AHL, while citing its survey, said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) might opt to further reduce the key policy rate by up to 200 basis points (bps) in line with a downward trajectory of the pace of inflation and improved economic indicators.
On Wednesday, the buying spree continued at the PSX as the benchmark index crossed the 87,000 level for the first time to settle at 87,194.53.
Globally, Asian markets were mixed on Thursday following steep losses on Wall Street as a spike in US Treasury yields led investors to scale back their expectations on interest rate cuts.
With the US presidential election still seen as a coin toss less than two weeks out, there was plenty of uncertainty on trading floors, though observers said dealers were eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies that could stoke inflation again.
That, along with a strong run of economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.
Traders had last month been confident the central bank would follow up last month’s bumper 50-basis-point cut with another at its November meeting and a smaller one in December.
This is an intra-day update
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