KSE-100 pulls back after brief run past 95,000, still closes at record high

Buying spree continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investor concerns over the possibility of a mini-budget subsided with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 572 points to close at a fresh record high on Friday.

After brief range-bound trading in the first few hours, a strong buying spree pushed the KSE-100 to a record intra-day high of 95,278.27, followed by some late-session that trimmed the intra-day gains.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 94,763.64, up by 571.75 points or 0.61%.

Buying was observed in key sectors including cement, commercial banks, power generation and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, KE, PSO, PPL, MEBL and FAYSAL traded in the green.

Experts said the upward momentum could be attributed to growing economic optimism, bolstered by recent reports indicating that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised no concerns regarding Pakistan’s progress in meeting revenue collection targets.

An IMF delegation, led by its mission chief Nathan Porter, is in Pakistan for a staff visit to discuss recent developments and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme performance to date.

In a key development, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Ali Pervaiz Malik said on Thursday that it would be premature to comment whether mini-budget was imminent or not.

The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) constituted another committee, this time under the convenorship of the Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Ali Pervaiz Malik, to evaluate the possible transaction options for the privatisation of Roosevelt Hotel in New York, while reiterating its resolve to divest national flag carrier PIACL “through privatisation or government-to-government (G2G) mode”.

According to a statement released by the Privatisation Commission on Friday, the CCoP would evaluate the modes to be adopted in the light of available legal provisions.

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), an oil and gas exploration firm, discovered hydrocarbon reserves from Pateji X-1 well, located in Sujawal district, Sindh. The E&P, a key supplier of natural gas in the country, shared the development in a notice to the PSX on Friday.

On Thursday, PSX achieved another historic milestone and hit the highest-ever level with extremely high trading activities on the back of aggressive buying, mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support. The KSE-100 Index surged by 836.47 points or 0.90% and crossed 94,000 psychological level to close at its highest-ever level of 94,191.89 points.

Globally, Asian markets were mixed on Friday after Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell tempered expectations for interest rate cuts, while traders also contemplated a hawkish Trump presidency.

The tepid performance followed a negative lead from Wall Street and came at the end of a painful week for equities fuelled by worries about another disruptive China-US trade war.

The dollar, however, held gains against its peers and pushed higher versus the yen after data showing a slowdown in Japanese economic growth, which could dampen expectations for more rate hikes by Tokyo.

Fed chief Powell on Thursday played up the performance of the world’s top economy and policymakers’ progress in bringing inflation down towards their two percent target.

That had allowed officials to start lowering borrowing costs in September, with a follow-up last week.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 277.67, a gain of Re0.07 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 893.17 million from 1,084.34 million on Thursday.

The value of shares rose to Rs30.81 billion from Rs32.68 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 78 million shares, followed by Fauji Foods Ltd with 70.72 million shares, and Treet Battery Ltd with 47.94 million shares.

Shares of 465 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 262 registered an increase, 147 recorded a fall, while 56 remained unchanged.