KSE-100 up over 1,300 points at open as banks, cement and energy stocks rally
Buying returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange at Tuesday's open, lifting the benchmark KSE-100 Index 1,305.39 points, or 0.78%, to 167,869.45 at 9:30am.
The gains were broad. Automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies and power generation all drew buyers. Index-heavy names including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP were all trading in the green.
The rally follows a marginally higher Monday session in which the KSE-100 added 154.81 points, or 0.09%, to close at 166,564.07. Support from select heavyweights that day was offset by renewed selling in refinery stocks after the government moved to absorb higher petrol import costs through a reduction in the Petroleum Levy.
The regional backdrop is softer. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.9% at the start of Asian trade, led by a decline of as much as 3.8% in Korean shares, while oil prices stabilised after the previous session's tumble. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% overnight as tech earnings weighed on sentiment, and Apple fell 2.8% in after-hours trading after forecasting lower gross margins for the holiday quarter. Investors are also preparing to vote in US midterm elections, with prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi assigning around a 75% probability that the Democrats will control the Senate.
