The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its record-setting spree led by index-heavy energy and cement sector shares as the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed the 86,000 level for the first time in history during the opening hours of intra-day trading on Wednesday.
At 12:10pm, the KSE-100 was hovering at 86,383.58, an increase of 719.61 points or 0.84%.
Buying was witnessed in index-heavy stocks including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks including PSO, PPL, OGDC, FFC, NBP and HBL traded in the green.
Experts have been crediting the ongoing bullish trend to a higher-than-expected decline in the inflation rate, which has raised hopes for a further cut in the policy rate at the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in November.
“Greater than expected decline in headline inflation and anticipated rate cuts in the next two MPC meetings (Nov & Dec)” is driving this trend, Saad Khan, analyst at Imran Ismail Securities, told Business Recorder.
“A positive real interest rate of more than 10% advocates further rate cuts which can go down by 250-350bps,” he said.
On Tuesday, the PSX’s record-breaking trend continued due to investors’ strong interest and healthy buying, mainly in the E&P and fertilizer sectors. The benchmark index settled at 85,663.98, an increase of 753.68 points or 0.89%.
Globally, Chinese stocks tumbled on Wednesday alongside their Hong Kong peers. Investors booked profits after a blistering rally, and officials failed to inspire confidence in stimulus plans intended to revive the economy.
Benchmark indexes in China declined more than 5% by midday in a sharp reversal from the moves seen the day before, when markets returned from the week-long National Day holiday with a bang and scaled more than two-year highs.
The Shanghai Composite index fell 5.3%, while the blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 5.4%, both poised to snap a 10-day winning streak.
This is an intra-day update
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