Bullish sentiments were witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), amid expectations of further reduction in the policy rate by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 400 points on Thursday.
At 3:30pm, the KSE-100 Index was near 79,017.61, a gain of 365.82 points or 0.47%.
Buying was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, SNGPL, UBL, MEBL and BoP traded in the green.
Analysts said investors remain optimistic over a further reduction in the interest rate, as the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to announce the new policy rate shortly.
On Wednesday, PSX dropped deep in the red due to selling pressure as investors opted for cautious approach and preferred to offload their holdings ahead of the monetary policy.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 634.94 points or 0.80% and closed at 78,651.80 points.
Globally, Asian shares bounced on Thursday, tracking a tech-driven rally on Wall Street, while the dollar held onto gains after US core inflation surprised slightly on the upside and dashed hopes of a large rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
Investors are now awaiting a policy decision from the European Central Bank later in the day where a rate cut is almost a certainty, but the question remains whether it would move again in both October and December.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1%.
The Nikkei jumped 3%, helped by a weaker yen, which pulled back from its 2024 high of 140.71 per dollar.
This is an intra-day update
Source: Brecorder
