After declining a record 6,500 points on Thursday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a strong comeback on Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 2,200 points during the trading opening hours.
At 9:40am, the benchmark index was hovering at 105,759.27, an increase of 2,232.46 points or 2.16%.
Buying momentum was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and power generation, which traded in the green. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, and SNGPL, also traded in the green.
“After falling sharply by 6% yesterday due to drone attacks, Pakistani stocks have recovered and are up 2% in the first 30 minutes of trading on Friday,” said Mohammed Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, in a note.
“So far, there has been no news of any major escalation helping restore confidence.”
In another key development, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to meet on Friday (May 9) to consider “Pakistan – first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, request for modification of performance criteria and request for an arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.”
The board would consider the first review under the $7 billion EFF programme and a new arrangement of $1.3 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). Upon approval from the Executive Board, Pakistan will have access to about $1 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF, bringing total disbursements under the program to about $2 billion.
In addition, the country would unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months.
On Thursday, selling pressure gripped the PSX, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 6,500 points settling at 103,526.82, amid rising tensions between Pakistan and India.
Globally, Japanese stocks jumped on Friday, supported by the US dollar’s surge against the yen, after a US trade deal with Britain fuelled hopes of progress in tariff talks with other countries.
Bitcoin soared to its highest since January and US crude ticked up after a more than 3% surge on Thursday, when President Donald Trump announced the agreement with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – the first in the month since Trump started a 90-day pause on trade tariffs to allow room for negotiations.
At the same time, concerns that the limited trade agreement with London may not provide much of a blueprint for additional deals cooled optimism around the outcome of Sino-U.S. trade talks set for Saturday in Switzerland.
Mainland blue chips started the day 0.2% lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (.HSI), opens new tab rose 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei and broader Topix each climbed about 1.2%, with the Topix set to extend its winning streak to an 11th session, the longest run since October 2017.
Taiwan’s equity benchmark advanced 1%, while Australian stocks added 0.4%.
This is an intra-day update
