Bullish sentiments were witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), amid expectations of further reduction in the policy rate by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing higher by 366 points on Thursday.
The KSE-100 saw some selling in the first half, hitting an intra-low of 78,577.65.
However, the second half of the session witnessed a strong buying spree that helped the index close above 79,000.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 79,017.62, up by 365.82 points or 0.47%.
Earlier, buying was witnessed in key sectors including banking, fertiliser, cement, power, OMCs, textile, pharma, technology, and chemical.
Key heavyweights such as UBL, FFC, FCCL, OGDC, and HUBC posted significant gains, collectively contributing to a notable 236-point rise, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Investor sentiment had remained particularly strong in the cement sector, with heightened expectations surrounding the monetary policy decision, where a rate cut was widely anticipated, according to Topline.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) unleashed its most aggressive reduction in the key policy rate since April 2020, cutting it by 200 basis points (bps) to bring it down to 17.5% amid slowing inflation and declining international oil prices.
GNEXT Technologies, Apple’s authorised distributor for Pakistan, has tapped Air Link Communications Limited, a smartphone manufacturer/assembler, as its premium partner in the country.
“This strategic appointment aims to significantly expand the availability of Apple products through structured retail channel coverage,” said Air Link in a notice to the PSX on Thursday.
On Wednesday, PSX dropped deep in the red due to selling pressure as investors opted for cautious approach and preferred to offload their holdings ahead of the monetary policy.
Globally, Asian shares bounced on Thursday, tracking a tech-driven rally on Wall Street, while the dollar held onto gains after US core inflation surprised slightly on the upside and dashed hopes of a large rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
Investors are now awaiting a policy decision from the European Central Bank later in the day where a rate cut is almost a certainty, but the question remains whether it would move again in both October and December.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1%.
The Nikkei jumped 3%, helped by a weaker yen, which pulled back from its 2024 high of 140.71 per dollar.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.44, a gain of Re0.10 against the US dollar.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 584.28 million from 532.73 million on Wednesday.
The value of shares rose to Rs16.36 billion from Rs14.73 billion in the previous session.
Kohinoor Spinning was the volume leader with 60.74 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 57.98 million shares, and TPL Properties with 32.5 million shares.
Shares of 439 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 212 registered an increase, 167 recorded a fall, while 60 remained unchanged.
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