The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on a positive note on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 700 points amid moderate activity in early hours.
At 10:40am, the benchmark index was hovering at 159,838.42, an increase of 741.64 points or 0.47%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertiliser, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, PSO, WAFI, PPL, HCAR, HBL, MCB and MEBL, traded in the green.
In a key development, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is set to meet on Friday to decide a high-stakes economic agenda — including approval of a massive government guarantee worth Rs659.6 billion for power sector financing, tariff rationalisation for nuclear plants and a new gas pricing plan for fertiliser manufacturers.
On Thursday, the PSX closed lower as profit-taking and muted investor sentiment weighed on overall market performance. The benchmark KSE-100 Index fell by 481.40 points, or 0.3%, to close at 159,096.79 points.
Globally, tech-heavy stock markets were bracing for their heaviest weekly falls in seven months on Friday as investors have turned uneasy about how far the rally in artificial intelligence stocks has run, while safer assets such as bonds and the yen went higher.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were a touch firmer in the Asia morning, but overnight the Nasdaq dropped 1.9%.
For the week so far, the world’s biggest tech index is down 2.8%, which, if sustained, would mark its largest one-week drop since March and a jolt for a juggernaut that has gained more than 50% from lows touched when tariffs were announced in April.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.8% in morning trade to head for a weekly loss of 4.7%, the largest since late March, while in Seoul the Kospi fell 1.4% for a 3.3% weekly fall, its worst since late March.
Chip and cable makers were among the biggest losers, with tech investor Softbank Group Corp down more than 20% this week. Bitcoin, sometimes a bellwether for tech sentiment, is down 8% on the week to $101,092.
This is an intra-day update
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