Records continued to tumble at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 186,000 level for the first time in history during the opening minutes of trading on Wednesday.
At 10:05am, the benchmark index was hovering at 185,797.62, a gain of 735.52 points or 0.40%.
The buying rally is fuelled by the anticipation of a policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, scheduled to be held later this month, say analysts.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, POL, PPL, PAOS, SSGC, WAFI, HBL, MEBL, NBP, and MCB, traded in the green.
On Tuesday, United Bank Limited (UBL) emerged as the largest listed company in Pakistan, with its market capitalisation reaching Rs1.28 trillion (USD 4.6 billion), overtaking Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC).
The PSX closed Tuesday’s trading session on a strong footing as sustained institutional buying pushed the benchmark index to a fresh all-time high, amid robust volumes. The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 2,653 points, or 1.45%, to close at a record 185,062 points.
Internationally, crude futures slid and resource shares climbed in Asian trading as markets absorbed the impact of political upheaval in Venezuela and the fate of its petroleum reserves.
Oil prices continued their slide after US President Donald Trump said Venezuela will be “turning over” up to 50 million barrels of oil to be sold at its market price following the toppling and capture of the nation’s leader.
Japanese shares weighed down regional equity benchmarks, while commodity shares were broadly higher after an overnight surge in industrial metals prices.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid 0.25%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index, heavily weighted by commodity producers, climbed 0.3%.
Caracas and Washington have reached a deal to export up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, Trump said on Tuesday.
The arrangement follows a weekend strike on Venezuela, as well as comments by the White House that the U.S. was looking at options to acquire Greenland, and the use of the US military toward that goal was “always an option”.
Stocks in Tokyo were weighed down after China announced the ban on exports of dual-use items to Japan that can be used for military purposes, Beijing’s latest move in reaction to a remark by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan.
In the Asian trading day, data showed Australian consumer prices rose by less than forecast in November, and core inflation slowed slightly. A private sector survey in Japan showed the service sector expanded last month at its slowest pace since May.
This is an intra-day update
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