PSX: KSE-100 crosses 180,000 level as buying continues
- Benchmark index was hovering at 180,148.80
After observing selling pressure in the opening minutes, stocks rebounded at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 800 points during the trading session on Wednesday.
At 1:30pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 180,148.80, down 813.56 or 0.45%.
Key sectors saw buying, including commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks, including SSGC, PPL, OGDC, MCB, MEBL, NBP and UBL, traded in the green.
On Tuesday, PSX staged a powerful rally as broad-based buying lifted investor sentiment amid easing geopolitical tensions following US President Donald Trump’s peace remarks. The benchmark KSE-100 Index jumped 5,448.56 points, or 3.13%, to close at 179,335.24 points.
Globally, bonds tumbled, and the dollar stayed firm after a hot US inflation print and hawkish central bank rhetoric raised the risk of an outsized half-point rate hike from the Federal Reserve next month, though stocks remained resilient.
Data showed overnight core US inflation ran at a monthly rate of 0.3% in October, higher than the forecast 0.2%. Before the data landed, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said a core reading of 0.3% would prompt him to consider a 50-basis-point hike at the next meeting in December.
Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said two more rate rises were needed, possibly rapidly, and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned of a “real inflation issue” on hand, while Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson called for gradual rate hikes.
Fed funds futures now imply a quarter-point move is essentially locked in, with a 10% probability of a 50 bp rise. A total of three quarter-point moves are fully priced in by the middle of next year.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares rose 0.2%, defying the weakness on Wall Street, and Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.6%.
Shares of SoftBank Group slid 3.3% after it took a net loss of $7 billion in the second quarter, hit hard by hefty buildout costs for US data centres.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.4%, while China’s blue chips lost 0.2%.
Nasdaq futures bounced 0.5%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%. European stock futures gained 0.6%.
Nvidia remained at the centre of a political storm as the company probes whether CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. Its shares slid 5.5% overnight, taking losses from their recent peak to 30%.
This is an intraday update