Buying momentum was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in its post-Eid session, with the index gaining over 1,400 points during the first half of the trading on Friday.
At Friday prayers break, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 Index was hovering at 173,150.11, up by 1,424.82 points or 0.83 percent.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, POL, HBL, and NBP, traded in the green.
On the last trading day on Monday, the PSX had staged a strong recovery as renewed optimism surrounding ongoing United States-Iran negotiations, easing international oil prices, and aggressive buying ahead of the Eid holidays propelled the stock market sharply higher.
The index had closed at 171,725.29 points, registering a substantial increase of 3,881.05 points or 2.31%.
Globally, world stocks stood at record highs on Friday, and oil futures eyed the steepest weekly drop for nearly two months as traders waited for details on a potential deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the US-Iran ceasefire.
During Friday morning trading in Asia, the price of Brent crude was down 0.9% to around $93 a barrel, while the primary US benchmark West Texas Intermediate shaved 1.1% to just below $88 a barrel.
Leading indices on stock exchanges in Tokyo, Seoul, and Taipei surged by more than 2%, while Sydney was up by 1%.
Global AI bullishness has driven a historic rally this week, pushing the market capitalisations of chipmakers Micron and SK Hynix across the $1 trillion threshold.
In Europe, observers are awaiting a key gathering of leaders on Friday to discuss ways to address gaping trade deficits with China.
European Union commissioners will hold a debate on what the 27-nation bloc should do to defend the continent’s companies from what Brussels describes as unfair competition from Chinese rivals.
