Key Takeaways
- KSE-100 Index was largely flat at 9:55am on Friday.
- Buying interest was observed in key sectors like automobile assemblers and commercial banks.
- PSX experienced volatility due to rising international oil prices and geopolitical conflicts.
A volatile trading session was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index remaining largely flat during the opening minutes of trading on Friday. At 9:55am, the benchmark index was hovering at 174,958.78, up by 29.10 points or 0.02%.
Buying interest was noted in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks such as MARI, OGDC, PSO, DGKC, LUCK, MCB, and MEBL traded in the green.
On Thursday, PSX remained highly volatile as rising international oil prices amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts kept investors cautious. Late-session profit-taking failed to erase a modest recovery in the benchmark KSE-100 Index, which gained 153.09 points, or 0.09%, to close at 174,929.69.
Globally, Asian shares rose on Friday as investors embraced a global rally ahead of crucial U.S. jobs data. However, this was not enough to offset earlier losses, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 1%.
The dollar’s retreat turbocharged a rally in the yen, which gained 2.6% this week to trade at 155.7 a dollar, putting it within striking distance of the 155.2 level reached after joint intervention by Tokyo and Washington in late July.
In remarks at a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that recent data suggested some signs of disinflation and that, if upcoming reports reinforced that trend, he would favour holding rates steady at this month’s policy meeting.
Futures were quick to scale back the chance of a rate hike this month to just 50%, from about 63% a day ago. These expectations had surged in recent sessions as a global bond rout drove long-dated yields to multi-year highs, fuelled by concerns over stubborn inflation, swelling government debt, and geopolitical tensions.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1%, tracking broad gains on Wall Street, but that was not enough to offset earlier losses, with the index still down 0.4% for the week. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.8% but was down 2.7% this week. Chinese blue-chips rallied 1%, and South Korea’s KOSPI increased 1.1%.
