Buying continues at bourse, KSE-100 up nearly 1,000 points in early trade
- Benchmark index was hovering at 176,241.47
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's KSE-100 Index gained nearly 1,000 points on Thursday, continuing its recovery, contrasting with a general slump in Asian markets driven by chipmaker concerns.
- Pakistan Stock Exchange's KSE-100 Index gains.
- Asian stock market slump due to chipmaker concerns.
- Rising oil prices amid Middle East hostilities.
Buying continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday.
At 9:38am, the benchmark index was hovering at 176,241.47, up by 955.69 points or 0.55%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assembler, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, SSGC, MCB, MEBL and UBL, traded in the green.
On Wednesday, PSX staged a strong recovery as bargain hunters returned to the market following the previous session’s sharp sell-off. However, investors remained cautious amid persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 1,766.97 points, or 1.02%, to close at 175,285.78 points.
Internationally, Asian shares fell on Thursday as chipmakers stumbled ahead of results from bellwether TSMC, while bonds benefited from another benign reading on US inflation that lessened the risk of an imminent rate hike.
Oil prices, however, kept climbing as hostilities heated up in the Middle East. Washington continued striking Iran after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Tehran warned of an “existential war” with America. Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to $85.45 a barrel, adding to this week’s gain of 12%.
All eyes are on the quarterly earnings from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of advanced AI chips. The company is expected to notch a fifth consecutive quarter of record earnings, with a 59% surge in net profit for April-June.
However, investors are proving hard to please as shares of ASML, the world’s dominant supplier of equipment needed to make high-tech computer chips, finished 0.4% lower even after it raised its 2026 sales forecasts and pledged a capacity boost.
The selling spilt over to Asia. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 1.7% as South Korea’s KOSPI slumped 6.3% on weakness from Samsung, down 8%, and SK Hynix, down 11%.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 3%. Taiwanese shares fell 0.5%, while China’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.2%.
This is an intraday update
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