Key Takeaways
- The KSE-100 Index rose by nearly 300 points in the first half of Friday's trading session.
- Key sectors, including commercial banks and oil and gas exploration companies, experienced selling pressure.
- Globally, Asian shares rose as investors embraced a global rally ahead of U.S. jobs data.
A volatile trading session was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 300 points during the first half of the trading session. By 12pm, the index was hovering at 175,198.04, up by 268.36 points or 0.15%. This marked a significant shift from the previous day, where the PSX remained highly volatile due to rising international oil prices amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts.
Despite the gains, selling was observed in key sectors such as commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), power generation, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, POL, PPL, NBP, and UBL, traded in the red, indicating a mixed performance across the board.
On Thursday, the PSX experienced a modest recovery, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 153.09 points, or 0.09%, to close at 174,929.69. Late-session profit-taking failed to erase this modest recovery, suggesting a cautious approach among investors.
Globally, Asian shares rose on Friday as investors embraced a global rally ahead of crucial U.S. jobs data. This rally was driven by a retreat in the dollar, which turbocharged a rally in the yen, which gained 2.6% this week to trade at 155.7 a dollar. The yen's gain put 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.
Those 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%. These global market movements had a direct impact on the PSX, contributing to the overall volatility and the significant gains seen in the KSE-100 Index.
