Buying returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) after three negative sessions as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the day with a gain of over 1,700 points.
The bulls remained dominant throughout the day, with strong buying seen in the second half, pushing the index to an intra-day high of 113,400.57.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 113,206.40, up by 1,719.04 points or 1.54%.
“The uptick was primarily fuelled by strong performances from MARI, BAHL, LUCK, PSO, and HUBC, which together added 923 points to the index,” brokerage house Topline Securities said.
Major banks commenced announcing their annual results from Thursday, with Bank Alfalah posting a consolidated profit of Rs39.9 billion during 2024, over 10% higher than its earnings in 2023.
“The next key milestone is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review due in the end of February, which should reinforce the market view on continued macro stability,” another brokerage house Intermarket Securities said in a note.
On Wednesday, selling pressure was seen at the PSX, with the KSE-100 closing the day lower by 543 points at 111,487.36 amid a lack of positive triggers.
In the previous three sessions, including the one on Wednesday, the KSE-100 lost nearly 3,400 points.
Internationally, Asian share markets were mixed in thin trading on Thursday as much of the region was on holiday for the Lunar New Year. At the same time, the US dollar trod water after the Federal Reserve signalled a pause in policy easing.
The US central bank held interest rates steady overnight as widely expected, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying there would be no rush to cut them again.
President Donald Trump’s policies remain a risk for the Fed’s policy outlook, and Saturday is likely to see new tariffs slapped on Canada, Mexico and possibly China as well.
On Wall Street, after-the-bell earnings reports from members of the Magnificent Seven megacap tech stocks were a mixed bag. Microsoft beat quarterly revenue estimates, while Tesla’s fourth-quarter profit margin missed expectations. Meta forecast first-quarter revenue below market estimates.
Another of the Mag 7, Apple reports results later Thursday.
The results did little to further the debate on Chinese startup DeepSeek’s potential threat to US dominance in artificial intelligence, and the big spending behind it - questions that triggered a rout in global tech stocks on Monday.
US stock indexes ended slightly lower on Wednesday, and tech was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 as the benchmark slipped 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee reported a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.97 for a loss of Re0.1 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 483.94 million from 449.24 million on Wednesday.
However, the value of shares declined to Rs26.10 billion from Rs28.19 billion in the previous session.
Sui South Gas was the volume leader with 48.36 million shares, followed by Waves Home App with 33.27 million shares, and Bank Makramah with 31.51 million shares.
Shares of 441 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 272 registered an increase, 118 recorded a fall, while 51 remained unchanged.
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