Stocks continue to surge, KSE-100 up nearly 1,300 points in early trade

Buying continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 700 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday. At 9:50am, the benchmark index was hovering at 172,974.55, up by 1,269.80 points or 0.74%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks, including HBL, MEBL, NBP, UBL, MARI, POL, SSGC, ARL and PRL, traded in the green. On Wednesday , PSX witnessed a powerful bullish session as easing geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran, coupled with a sharp decline in global oil prices, triggered aggressive buying across the board, significantly lifting investor sentiment. The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 6,962.29 points or 4.23% to close at 171,704.76 points. Globally, Asian stocks soared to record highs on Thursday while the US dollar slipped and oil nursed steep ​losses as traders embraced the prospect of a peace deal in the Middle East, although the fate of the critical Strait of ‌Hormuz remains unresolved. Japan’s Nikkei returned from a long holiday to cross 62,000 for the first time, catching up on a blistering AI-led rally after robust earnings that have also catapulted South Korean and Taiwan stocks to records. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1%, hitting another all-time high. The index is up 7% so far this ​week. Iran said it was reviewing a peace proposal that sources said would formally end the war ​while leaving unresolved the key U.S. demands that Iran suspend its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has sent oil prices surging. A ​potential deal to end the war, which started at the end of February, sent oil prices sliding nearly 8% on Wednesday. Brent crude was a touch higher at $102.11 a barrel in early Asian hours on Thursday. Federal Reserve officials said the war is raising the risk of ‌a sustained ⁠inflation shock, with continued high oil prices and developing concerns about problems with global supply chains. This is an intraday update

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