Expectations of a significant policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting fuelled a buying spree at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 1,900 points during trading on Friday.
At 4:25pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 90,907.49, an increase of 1,940.73 points or 2.18%.
Buying momentum was led by key sectors including cement, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, SNGPL and SSGC traded in the green.
The stock market has been on an upward trajectory in recent weeks due to strong corporate earnings, and expectations of a policy rate cut.
The central bank’s MPC is scheduled to meet on Monday, November 04.
In a key development, Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 7.2% on a year-on-year basis in October 2024, higher than the reading in September 2024 when it stood at 6.9%, showed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data released on Friday.
On Thursday, profit-taking dominated proceedings at the PSX, pulling the KSE-100 Index down by 1,320 points, which settled at 88,966.76.
Globally, Asian markets mostly fell Friday, tracking a global slide in stocks fuelled by tame tech earnings and investor jitters less than a week before neck-and-neck US elections.
Analysts have been watching the rise in US Treasury bond yields, with expectations the Federal Reserve may back off major interest rate cuts amid US economic data that has generally been solid.
Just days away from the US election on Tuesday, data showed the Fed’s preferred inflation measure cooled further in September – and now sits just above the central bank’s long-term target of two percent.
But the figures failed to boost sentiment, despite being a positive sign for future rate cuts.
This is an intra-day update
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