PSX: KSE-100 up nearly 900 points

Buying interest was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 500 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday. At 10: 38am, the benchmark index was hovering at 168, 901. 54, up by 879. 74 points or 0. 52%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including LUCK, MCB, MEBL, NBP, UBL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL and ARL, traded in the green. On Wednesday, the PSX remained firmly under selling pressure as elevated international oil prices and persistent regional geopolitical tensions dented investor sentiment, prompting widespread profit-taking across key sectors. Concerns over macroeconomic stability, external account pressures and the risk of prolonged disruption in global oil markets weighed on the market throughout the session. The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged 1, 370. 52 points, or 0. 81%, to close at 168, 021. 80 points. Internationally, shares edged up in Asia on Thursday as investors bet the Federal Reserve is finally getting the jump on ​inflation, delivering its first rate hike in more than three years and calming a global bond selloff that had ‌sent long-term yields soaring. The US dollar hit a seven-week high against its major peers, underpinned by a jump in short-term Treasury yields as markets ramped up wagers that the Fed may have to lift rates again, with a move by December fully priced in. That proved a headwind for commodities, with oil prices giving back ​ground. The focus now shifts to the Bank of England, which is widely expected to leave interest rates steady later in the day, ​but all eyes will be on any hint about whether high energy prices could force it to hike ⁠in November. The Bank of Japan, by contrast, is all but certain to lift interest rates on Friday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside ​Japan rose 0. 4% while Japan’s Nikkei gained 0. 5%. Chinese blue-chips slipped 0. 4%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0. 9%. Nasdaq futures gained 0. 6%, and ​S&P 500 futures bounced 0. 5%, after small declines on Wall Street. As widely expected, the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point overnight, but the unanimous decision tilted to the hawkish side, with the board signalling one more rate hike this year. Goldman Sachs now expects the Fed to hike rates again in October. This is an intraday update

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