There was no stopping the bullish momentum at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), buoyed by earnings optimism, rupee stability, and strong institutional activity from local and foreign investors. The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at a new all-time high on Wednesday.
Positive sentiments prevailed throughout the trading session, pushing the benchmark index to an intra-day high of 151,261.67.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 150,591, an increase of 820.26 points or 0.55%.
In a key development for Pakistan’s corporate sector, Moody’s Ratings upgraded the local and foreign-currency long-term deposit ratings of five Pakistani banks: Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Ltd (UBL) to Caa1 from Caa2.
Rating actions followed Moody’s decision to upgrade the government of Pakistan’s local and foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa1 from Caa2, to reflect Pakistan’s improving external position, supported by its progress in reform implementation under the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.
On Tuesday, the PSX extended its record-setting rally as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at an all-time high of 149,770.75 points, up 1,574 points or 1.06%.
Internationally, global share markets came under pressure on Wednesday after a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week.
Stock futures pointed to a lower opening in Europe and most Asian bourses were in the red, with tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan and South Korea among the biggest losers, in part due to worries about the Trump administration’s growing influence on companies in the sector.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid more than 1%, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures lost 0.64% and DAX futures shed 0.63%.
S&P 500 futures dipped 0.27% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.44%, extending a fall from the cash session overnight.
Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech Index shed 1.3%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded its 9th consecutive gain against the US dollar. The local currency appreciated by 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the rupee settled at 281.95, a gain of Re0.01.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 667.81 million from 809.08 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares declined to Rs40.73 billion from Rs48.43 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 52.29 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 36.26 million shares, and Fauji Foods Limited with 33.61 million shares.
Shares of 487 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 240 registered an increase, 216 recorded a fall, while 31 remained unchanged.
