Business Recorder
Buying returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday. At 10:45am, the benchmark index was hovering at 171,200.30, up by 1,009.66 points or 0.59%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, HUBCO, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the green. Pakistan’s federal budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 would be presented on June 10, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday. The statement on X came after it was reported that Pakistan’s federal budget was unlikely to be presented on June 5, as initially planned, mainly because some fiscal measures have not been settled with the International Monetary Fund. On Wednesday , PSX ended yesterday’s session in negative territory as investors remained cautious amid the absence of meaningful progress on the United States-Iran diplomatic front, prompting broad-based selling across key sectors and keeping market momentum fragile throughout the day. The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 831.13 points, or 0.49%, to close at 170,190.64 points. Internationally, Asian stocks fell on Thursday as renewed fighting between the US and Iran rattled investors, although oil slipped from recent highs after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.5%, while S&P 500 e-mini futures slipped 0.5%. Korean shares reopened as much as 2.6% lower after a holiday, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 1.9%. Stocks on Wall Street dropped overnight, with the S&P 500 falling 0.7% and oil prices rising around 2% as talks between Tehran and Washington showed little progress and hostilities erupted anew. Traders looked through better-than-expected US ISM services sector PMI data, which rose in May as businesses preemptively placed orders and rebuilt inventories in anticipation of shortages and higher prices because of the Iran war. Brent crude futures were 1.3% lower at $96.59 a barrel as trading resumed on Thursday after Lebanon and Israel agreed to implement a ceasefire, which is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all its operatives from the South Litani Sector. The two sides had agreed last month to a ceasefire, but hostilities had continued.
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