Buying rally continues, KSE-100 up 2,300 points
- Benchmark index was hovering at 179,386.57
The Pakistan Stock Exchange experienced a significant rally, with the KSE-100 Index gaining over 2,100 points, fueled by hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Iran war and positive global market trends.
- Significant gains on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
- Hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Iran war.
- Pakistan's request for $1.3 billion China loan refinancing.
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 gaining over 2,300 points during intraday trading on Wednesday.
At 12:09pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 179,386.57, up by 2,303.35 points or 1.30%.
Positive momentum was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL, traded in the green.
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 market opened on a positive note, extending the previous session’s momentum, and the benchmark KSE-100 Index climbed to an intraday high of 178,768.83 points.
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.
This is an intraday update