Bulls continued to march upwards at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), supported by strong sectoral performance and improving economic sentiment, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index hitting a new record high on Thursday.
Positive sentiments prevailed through most of the trading session, pushing the index to an intra-day high of 153,411.05.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 152,665.72, an increase of 463.85 points or 0.30%.
“We have seen a very strong momentum in the last couple of months,” Mustafa Pasha, executive director at Lakson Investments, told Business Recorder.
The analyst added that mutual funds have emerged as major buyers at the bourse in recent months, “because they are getting fresh inflows in their equity-based products, which is driving the valuations higher“.
Pasha noted that optimism is building among investors that, moving ahead, Pakistan’s economy will gradually recover, potentially translating into earnings growth in the months ahead.
On Wednesday, the PSX extended its record-breaking run as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged 1,226.39 points or 0.81% to settle at 152,201.88.
Internationally, Asian stocks moved higher in early trading on Thursday as dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials soothed investor nerves at a time of heightened concerns over global growth and a selloff in bond markets.
Australian shares advanced 0.8%, recovering from their biggest one-day sell-off since April, while the Nikkei 225 rose 1.2%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains and was last down 0.2%, dragged lower by losses in China. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.6% and was on track for a third day of declines after a report in Bloomberg News that financial regulators are preparing cooling measures for the market.
Financial markets have started September in a downbeat mood, with a sell-off in longer-dated bonds dousing investor confidence ahead of the critical US non-farm payrolls on Friday. An auction of 30-year Japanese government bonds later today will test global debt markets’ appetite for super-long fixed income.
Overnight, the selloff in bond markets slowed, but concerns about the fiscal health of major economies from Japan to Britain and the United States kept long-dated borrowing costs pinned near multi-year highs.
Investors got a timely boost to sentiment after Federal Reserve officials, including Governor Christopher Waller, expressed support for rate cuts in the months ahead.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its positive momentum, appreciating 0.01% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the rupee settled at 281.67, a gain of Re0.04 against the greenback. This was the rupee’s 20th successive gain against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 954.33 million from 1,043.23 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares declined to Rs46.05 billion from Rs51.31 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 99.49 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 45.31 million shares, and Pak Int.Bulk with 38.56 million shares.
On the gainers’ side, Hoechst Pakistan Limited rose by Rs101.89 to close at Rs4,101.27, while Sitara Chemical Industries Limited added Rs72.52 to settle at Rs797.70. Conversely, PIA Holding Company Limited-B fell by Rs475.13 to Rs26,340.67, and Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering shed Rs122.00 to Rs1,553.00, leading the laggards.
Shares of 480 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 208 registered an increase, 240 recorded a fall, while 32 remained unchanged.
