Bulls continued to make further inroads at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index, led by buying activity in index-heavy shares, gained nearly 900 points during the opening hours of trading on Friday.
However, profit-taking in the second half of the trading session trimmed the market gains.
At 4:05pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 81,986.64, an increase of 527.36 points or 0.65%.
Buying was witnessed in select sectors including cement, commercial banks, fertilizer and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including MEBL, UBL, ENGRO, FFC traded in the green.
Experts said some of the positivity comes as investors anticipate the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approval.
The IMF board is scheduled to take Pakistan’s 37-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of about $7 billion on the agenda on September 25.
On Thursday, improved macroeconomic indicators at the local front and the Federal Reserve’s larger-than-usual reduction pushed the PSX upwards, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 81,459.29, a gain of 997.95 points or 1.24%.
Globally, Asian shares extended their rally on Friday, bathing in the afterglow of an outsized interest US rate cut, while the yen edged higher as the Bank of Japan held rates steady and stayed upbeat on the economy.
In China, the central bank kept its benchmark lending rates on hold, countering expectations for a move lower. Chinese shares were an outlier in the region, with blue chips down 0.5%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6% to the highest in two months, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The index was headed for a weekly gain of 2.4%.
Markets imply a 40% chance the Fed will cut by another 50 basis points in November and have 73 basis points priced in by year-end. Rates are seen at 2.85% by the end of 2025, which is now thought to be the Fed’s estimate of neutral.
This is an intra-day update
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