Buying rally continued unabated at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 185,000 level, another record high, during the intra-day trading on Tuesday.
At 1:15pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 185,023.74, an increase of 2,615.51 points or 1.43%.
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 ARL, HUBCO, MARI, POL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL, NBP and UBL, traded in the green.
Market analysts attributed the positive momentum to expectations of a policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
“The market anticipates a 50bps cut in the upcoming MPC,” Saad Hanif of Ismail Iqbal Securities, told media.
On Monday, the PSX kicked off the New Year on a powerful note as aggressive buying by local institutional investors, particularly mutual funds, triggered a broad-based rally that pushed to fresh historic highs.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by a massive 3,373.31 points, or 1.88%, to close at 182,408.24.
Internationally, Asian stocks extended their record climb on Tuesday, taking the baton from Wall Street, where gains for oil companies and financials helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time peak.
US big oil got a boost from the country’s military raid at the weekend that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Crude oil eased back after rising $1 a barrel overnight as traders assessed the possible impact on crude flows from Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves.
Overall, however, the events had a limited effect on risk sentiment, with equities driven more by momentum and currencies focused on macroeconomic data.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares climbed 0.4% to its highest-ever level, driven primarily by advances for Japanese stocks, with the Topix index jumping 1.3% to a record peak.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7%, mainland Chinese blue chips gained 0.3% and Australia’s stock benchmark rose 1%. South Korea’s KOSPI eased 0.4% from record-high levels reached on Monday.
US S&P 500 futures tacked on 0.1% following a 0.6% rise in the cash index overnight. Chevron leapt more than 5%.
US President Donald Trump said he would put Venezuela under temporary American control and that he could order another strike if the South American nation does not cooperate with US efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking. He also threatened military action in Colombia and Mexico.
Trump plans to meet with executives from US oil companies later this week to discuss boosting Venezuelan oil production.
This is an intra-day update
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