Pakistani Stocks Hit New Peak Amid Strong Buying
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its record-breaking rally on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 146,000 mark for the first time. Early trading saw a rise of nearly 700 points as investors poured money into key sectors.
By 9:30am, the index stood at 146,337.85, up 690.72 points or 0.47%. Buying interest was particularly strong in automobile assemblers, oil and gas exploration firms, oil marketing companies, and refineries. Major stocks such as ARL, NRL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, MARI, OGDC, POL, and PPL all traded in positive territory.
The momentum followed Thursday’s performance when the index closed at a record 145,647.14 points, gaining 558.64 points or 0.39% on the back of strong local mutual fund activity.
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Globally, Japanese markets surged on Friday, supported by strong corporate earnings and optimism that the US may ease overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods.
The Nikkei 225 climbed 2%, while the Topix Index reached a record high above 3,000. Tech investor SoftBank Group saw its shares rise as much as 11% after posting a first-quarter profit, while Sony gained 6% following strong earnings.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets retreated, with Hong Kong leading the decline after Wall Street pulled back from a one-week high in the previous session. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%.
US futures pointed to further gains, with the S&P 500 e-minis up 0.3% and Nasdaq futures up 0.4%, supported by expectations of a more dovish Federal Reserve stance.
