KSE-100 rebounds after early fall
After a steep decline at the open, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index recovered most of its losses but remained slightly in the red during the first half of trading on Friday.
The index dropped more than 400 points at the start, hitting an intra-day low of 118,723.28.
At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 119,140.92, a decrease of 12.12 points or 0.01%.
Selling pressure was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, PSO, SSGC, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, UBL, and NBP, are traded in red.
Analysts say investors are actively selling shares amid uncertainty about what the government will announce in the upcoming federal budget.
On Thursday, the PSX closed lower as investors adopted a cautious stance amid uncertainty surrounding the outcome of IMF-driven new taxes in the upcoming budget. The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 778 points or 0.65%, closing at 119,153 points.
Internationally, Asian shares made some tentative gains on Friday as beaten-down Treasuries found buyers after US President Donald Trump's tax bill narrowly passed the lower house, although debt worries still lingered.
Overnight, PMI data around the globe showed US business activity picked up pace in May, which helped Wall Street rise earlier in the session before running into selling pressures and closing the day largely flat. In contrast, disappointingly weak activity in Europe dragged shares there lower.
Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures both were flat.
The Republican-controlled US House voted by a slim margin to pass Trump's tax cut bill, which would fulfil many of his campaign pledges, but will increase the $36.2 trillion US debt pile by $3.8 trillion over the next decade.
Treasury yields, especially at the longer-dated end, have climbed on worries about US fiscal health in the run-up to the passage of the bill. That was exacerbated by the decision from Moody's last week to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, citing rising debt.
The 30-year bonds, however, did manage to find some buyers overnight, with prices now at some attractive levels. Their yields fell another 1 basis point to 5.037% on Friday, having dropped 4 bps to pull away from a 19-month top of 5.161% earlier in the session.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1% on Friday, but for the week, it is still set for a loss of 0.4% after five weeks of gains.
This is an intra-day update
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
US, China set for trade talks in London on Monday
WASHINGTON: Three of US President Donald Trump's top aides will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for talks aimed at resolving a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent the United States in the talks, Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social platform without providing further details. China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that vice premier He Lifeng will be in the United Kingdom between June 8 and June 13, adding that the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism would be held during this visit. 'The meeting should go very well,' Trump wrote. Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a rare leader-to-leader call amid weeks of brewing trade tensions and a dispute over critical minerals. Trump says fresh US-China trade talks in London next week Trump and Xi agreed to visit one another and asked their staffs to hold talks in the meantime. Both countries are under pressure to relieve tensions, with the global economy under pressure over Chinese control over the rare earth mineral exports of which it is the dominant producer and investors more broadly anxious about Trump's wider effort to impose tariffs on goods from most US trading partners. China, meanwhile, has seen its own supply of key US imports like chip-design software and nuclear plant parts curtailed. The countries struck a 90-day deal on May 12 in Geneva to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump returned to the presidency in January. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 stock index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18% after Trump unveiled his sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2% below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva. Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives. China sees mineral exports as a source of leverage. Halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican US president if economic growth sags because companies cannot make mineral-powered products. In recent years, US officials have identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the United States economically and militarily.
Express Tribune
4 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Trump refuses Musk outreach, says he has ‘lost his mind'
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. PHOTO:REUTERS Listen to article US President Donald Trump dismissed the idea of a reconciliation with Elon Musk on Saturday, saying the billionaire 'has lost his mind', even as Republicans called for the two to end their public feud. Asked on ABC News whether he would speak with Musk after reports of a possible phone call, Trump said: 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' The rift between the two influential figures—both key players in Republican political and fundraising circles—has escalated in recent days, with Musk criticising Trump-backed policies and Trump responding in kind. READ: Trump, Musk feud explodes with threats of cutting contracts, backing impeachment Despite the friction, Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators expressed hope that the feud would not derail the party's legislative goals, particularly a sweeping tax and border spending bill endorsed by Trump but opposed by Musk. 'I hope it doesn't distract us from getting the job done that we need to,' said Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington state. 'I think it will boil over and they'll mend fences.' Senator Ted Cruz of Texas echoed the sentiment, telling Fox News: 'When the two of them are working together, we'll get a lot more done for America than when they're at cross purposes.' Read More: Elon Musk's net worth drops by $27b after feud with Trump: report Senator Mike Lee of Utah shared a composite photo of the two men on social media, writing: 'But… I really like both of them.' He urged his followers to support reconciliation between the pair. The White House has not confirmed any planned conversation between Trump and Musk, although a person familiar with the matter said Musk was open to dialogue while Trump was unwilling to speak 'at least on Saturday'. Conservative host Sean Hannity said the feud had 'got personal very quick' but described it as 'just a major policy difference'. House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed concerns that the clash would affect legislative priorities. 'Members are not shaken at all,' Johnson said. 'We're going to pass this legislation on our deadline.' Still, Johnson urged reconciliation, calling it 'good for the party and the country if all that's worked out', before issuing a note of caution to Musk. 'Do not doubt and do not second-guess and don't ever challenge the president of the United States, Donald Trump,' he warned. 'He is the leader of the party.' Tensions between the two men have been rising since Musk publicly criticised the president's policies on immigration and government spending. The feud also coincided with volatility in Tesla's stock, further spooking investors.
Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Express Tribune
US Supreme Court grants DOGE access to sensitive social security data
The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen the morning before justices are expected to issue opinions in pending cases, in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2024. Photo:REUTERS Listen to article The US Supreme Court granted on Friday the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. On the request of the Justice Department, the judiciary had put on hold Maryland-based US District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law. The top court's brief, unsigned order did not provide a rationale for siding with DOGE. BREAKING: The Supreme Court grants DOGE affiliates access to Social Security Administration records. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson would deny the request. — SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 6, 2025 The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented from the order. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent that was joined by fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, criticized the court's majority for granting DOGE "unfettered data access" despite the administration's "failure to show any need or any interest in complying with existing privacy safeguards." In a separate order on Friday, the Supreme Court extended its block on judicial orders requiring DOGE to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE swept through federal agencies as part of the Republican president's effort, spearheaded by Musk, to eliminate federal jobs, downsize and reshape the US government and root out what they see as wasteful spending. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30. Two labor unions and an advocacy group filed suits to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive data at the Social Security Administration (SSA), including social security numbers, bank account data, tax information, earnings history and immigration records. The agency is a major provider of government benefits, sending checks each month to more than 70 million recipients including retirees and disabled Americans. Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group that represented the plaintiffs, said Friday's order would put millions of Americans' data at risk. "Elon Musk may have left Washington DC, but his impact continues to harm millions of people," the group said in a statement. "We will continue to use every legal tool at our disposal to keep unelected bureaucrats from misusing the public's most sensitive data as this case moves forward." In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that SSA had been "ransacked" and that DOGE members had been installed without proper vetting or training. They demanded access to some of the agency's most sensitive data systems. Hollander in an April 17 ruling found that DOGE had failed to explain why its stated mission required "unprecedented, unfettered access to virtually SSA's entire data systems". "For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records," Hollander wrote. "This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation." Hollander issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited DOGE staffers and anyone working with them from accessing data containing personal information, with only narrow exceptions. The judge's ruling did allow DOGE affiliates to access data that had been stripped of private information as long as those seeking access had gone through the proper training and passed background checks. Hollander also ordered DOGE affiliates to "disgorge and delete" any personal information already in their possession. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a 9-6 vote declined on April 30 to pause Hollander's block on DOGE's unlimited access to Social Security Administration records. Justice department lawyers in their Supreme Court filing characterized Hollander's order as judicial overreach. "The district court is forcing the executive branch to stop employees charged with modernizing government information systems from accessing the data in those systems because, in the court's judgment, those employees do not 'need' such access," they wrote. The six dissenting judges wrote that the case should have been treated the same as one in which 4th Circuit panel ruled 2-1 to allow DOGE to access data at the US Treasury and Education Departments and the Office of Personnel Management. In a concurring opinion, seven judges who ruled against DOGE wrote that the case involving Social Security data was "substantially stronger" with "vastly greater stakes," citing "detailed and profoundly sensitive Social Security records," such as family court and school records of children, mental health treatment records and credit card information.
