PSX: KSE-100 gains 374 points amid volatile trading

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained volatile during Friday’s trading session amid cautious bullish sentiment, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging both ways before ending the week in the positive.

The index initially came under selling pressure, falling to an intra-day low of 177,165.27 points, before recovering steadily and moving towards the 177,700. The market then remained largely range-bound around this level for much of the session.

A buying spell in the second half of the trading session pushed the index to an intra-day high of 178,042.78 points. However, the gains could not be sustained as profit-taking emerged, with the index retreating sharply towards the 177,300–177,400 range later in the session.

At close, the KSE-100 settled at 177,696.50 points, up 373.73 points or 0.21%.

“This gain can be attributed to overall decline in oil prices amid signs of progress in Pakistan-mediated diplomacy involving Iran,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

Top positive contribution to the index came from SYS, BOP, HBL, MEBL and ILP, as they cumulatively contributed 594 points to the index, it added.

On Thursday, PSX remained in consolidation as late-session profit-taking offset early gains, leaving the benchmark Index marginally lower, while broader market indicators also closed mostly in negative territory amid selective investor positioning. The KSE-100 Index closed at 177,322.78 points, down 47.93 points, or 0.03%.

The KSE-100 Index closed the week on a broadly flat note, gaining 0.3%.

“The subdued performance can be attributed to a lack of fresh market triggers, with investors largely adopting a wait-and-see approach amid uncertainty surrounding the progress of US-Iran peace talks,” Topline said.

Internationally, shares in Asia turned cautious on Friday after a Nvidia-fuelled technology rally, while currency and bond markets held their breath for the world’s most powerful central banker to speak on US interest rates.

Oil prices were headed ​for weekly losses as Iran and Oman had agreed on administering traffic in the Strait of Hormuz ‌and sharing revenues, though Washington has shown little interest in reviving direct talks with Tehran.

Brent eased 0.1% to $89.63 a barrel but was set for a weekly drop of over 5%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5%.

Taiwanese shares gained ​1.2% after Nvidia jumped nearly 9% overnight after the chipmaker reported robust results and signalled the AI spending ​boom has years left to run. South Korea’s KOSPI, however, fell 1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang ⁠Seng was down 0.3%.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were off 0.1%, while EURO STOXX 50 futures edged up ​0.3%.

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium where chair Kevin Warsh is slated to speak later in the day.

​Three Fed officials have already sounded the alarm about sticky inflation, but the new central bank chief has resisted providing forward guidance about where interest rates are going.

Futures imply around a 35% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates when it meets on September 16 and are ​fully priced for a move by December.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee extended its marginal gains against the US dollar on Friday. The local unit closed the day at 277.50, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 658.33 million from 614.06 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares declined to Rs31.45 billion from Rs34.55 billion in the previous session.

B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 91.72 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 90.86 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 46.40 million shares.

Shares of 494 companies were traded on Friday, of which 202 registered an increase, 257 recorded a fall, and 35 remained unchanged.