PSX: buying at bourse, KSE-100 up 900 points

On Thursday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed significant buying interest, resulting in the KSE-100 Index surging nearly 900 points during the opening minutes of trading. By 9:40am, the benchmark index was trading at 179,951.08, marking an increase of 867.28 points or 0.48%. The buying activity was notably concentrated in several key sectors such as automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration firms, OMCs, and power generation.

Index-heavy stocks like HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PSO, SSGC, SNGPL, HBL, MEBL, and UBL also saw gains throughout the trading session.

In contrast to Wednesday, when the PSX closed marginally lower due to profit-taking, the market exhibited resilience and optimism on Thursday. This bullish sentiment was mirrored globally, as stocks opened cautiously amid global market wobbling. NVIDIA, a leading AI processor supplier, faced a significant setback after it was reported that its board might remove CEO Jensen Huang, a decision made during a meeting on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, global markets saw mixed performances. South Korea's Kospi rose marginally by 0.2%, Taiwan's shares gained 0.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5%, and MSCI's Asia-Pacific index outside Japan saw a slight decline of 0.1%, primarily due to Hong Kong shares' underperformance. On Wall Street, stocks showed early gains, with the S&P 500 rising 1.3%, hinting at a potential recovery from the losses incurred following the US midterm elections.

This emerging trend is reflected in Fed funds futures, which indicate an 87.3% probability of a 25-basis-point interest rate hike during the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting on December 9, as opposed to a 12.7% likelihood of the more substantial 50-basis-point hike.