Buying rally continues at PSX as KSE-100 Index settles above 180,000

Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) amid comments by Qatari and US officials that raised hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Iran war, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing above 180,000 on Wednesday.

After opening on a positive note, the index came under brief selling pressure in early trade, slipping to an intra-day low of 178,512.09 points.

However, investor sentiment quickly improved, triggering sustained buying that helped the benchmark recover all losses by late morning. The rally gathered pace in the final hours of the session, with the index climbing to an intraday high of 180,202.38 points.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 180,014.93, up 2,931.71 points or 1.66%.

“The local bourse extended its winning momentum as bullish sentiment prevailed throughout the trading session, driven by improving geopolitical relations between the US and Iran. The continued decline in international oil prices further bolstered investor confidence, triggering broad-based buying across key sectors,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

“Optimism was also supported by expectations that softer oil prices could help ease inflationary pressures and improve Pakistan’s external account outlook.”

On the index contribution front, HBL, UBL, MEBL, ENGROH, and FFC emerged as the top contributors, collectively adding approximately 1,293 points to the benchmark index, Topline said.

In a key development, Pakistan reportedly requested China to refinance a $1.3 billion commercial loan, with the funds expected to be received later this month once the terms and conditions are finalised.

On Tuesday, PSX ended sharply lower as widespread profit-taking erased strong early gains after investors opted to lock in profits following Monday’s robust rally. The benchmark index settled at 177,083.22 points, down 1,116.80 points or 0.63%.

Globally, Asian stock markets jumped on Wednesday as robust earnings and renewed appetite for tech propelled Wall Street to ​record highs, while hopes for progress on opening the Strait of Hormuz pushed down on oil prices and bond yields.

Japan’s Nikkei ‌climbed 3.0% and South Korea added 4.1%, continuing its run of wild swings. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.4%, while Chinese blue chips gained 0.7%.

The tech rally came despite a setback for AMD, which fell 8.8% after hours as earnings beat the Street but still fell short of investors’ sky-high expectations.

AI and satellite group SpaceX shed ​7.5%, undoing much of a rally in regular trading time, on worries capex was eating up all its cash flow.

This has been a ​recurring concern for all AI stocks given the vast cost of compute power, with borrowing costs for the sector ⁠continuing to rise.

Nasdaq futures were flat on the earnings results, while S&P 500 futures added 0.3% after hitting all-time highs on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee extended its marginal gains against the US dollar on Wednesday. The local unit closed the day at 277.75, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 740.56 million from 711.27 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs35.91 billion from Rs25.87 billion in the previous session.

Trust Brokerage was the volume leader with 52.88 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 42.52 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 40.20 million shares.

Shares of 496 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 303 registered an increase, 158 recorded a fall, and 35 remained unchanged.