Buying rally continues at PSX, KSE-100 up 2,100 points

Buying momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 gaining over 2,100 points during trading on Wednesday.

At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 182,471.67, up by 2,169.97 points or 1.20%.

Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, MCB, NBP and UBL, traded in the green.

PSX benchmark KSE-100 Index surged 44% in FY2025-26, capping the fiscal year on a strong note as improved macroeconomic stability under the IMF-supported programme boosted investor confidence and fueled a sustained stock market rally.

The KSE-100 closed the year’s last trading session at 180,301, up by 44% from 125,627 at the end of FY25.

Internationally, Asian share markets started the new quarter in a cautious mood on Wednesday as talks between the United States and Iran hit new hurdles, while investors were ​on alert for possible Japanese intervention as the yen plumbed fresh 40-year lows.

Tehran said on Tuesday it would not meet with top U.S. envoys who ‌had flown to the region, with the two sides still far apart on a framework that would fully open the Strait of Hormuz.

Bond markets were also under pressure after U.S. Treasury yields spiked overnight as futures narrowed the odds on rate hikes from the Federal Reserve ahead of crucial jobs figures on Thursday.

All eyes will thus be on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh when he appears at a European Central Bank conference later in the ​session, for any guidance on the need for a tightening.

Unfortunately for traders, Warsh has long been against the Fed providing forward guidance and may keep his policy cards ​close to his chest.

Futures imply a 33% probability the Fed could hike rates at its next meeting later this month, while a September ⁠move is priced around 70%.

Equity investors are betting the coming earnings season will be bright enough to offset the rate risk and continue to pile into favoured tech trades.

Japan’s Nikkei climbed ​another 1.0%, having surged 37% last quarter. The rush for everything tech helped boost sentiment among big manufacturers to heights not seen since 2018, according to a closely watched survey out on Wednesday.

A separate ​survey showed manufacturing had boasted its best quarter since 2014 as new orders surged.

South Korea’s main index slipped 1.4%, having risen an eye-watering 68% in the second quarter on booming AI-related demand for semiconductors. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan held steady.

This is an intra-day update