PSX sustains record momentum, KSE-100 gans over 1,400 points
At 1:05pm, the benchmark KSE-100 Index was hovering at 151,227.48, an increase of 1,456.74 points or 0.97%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including PRL, ARL, HUBCO, MEBL, NBP and BOP traded in the green.
In a key development for Pakistan's corporate sector, Moody's Ratings upgraded the local and foreign-currency long-term deposit ratings of five Pakistani banks: Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Ltd (UBL) to Caa1 from Caa2.
Rating actions followed Moody's decision to upgrade the government of Pakistan's local and foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa1 from Caa2, to reflect Pakistan's improving external position, supported by its progress in reform implementation under the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.
On Tuesday, the PSX extended its record-setting rally as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at an all-time high of 149,770.75 points, up 1,574 points or 1.06%.
Internationally, global share markets came under pressure on Wednesday after a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week.
Stock futures pointed to a lower opening in Europe and most Asian bourses were in the red, with tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan and South Korea among the biggest losers, in part due to worries about the Trump administration's growing influence on companies in the sector.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid more than 1%, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures lost 0.64% and DAX futures shed 0.63%.
S&P 500 futures dipped 0.27% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.44%, extending a fall from the cash session overnight.
Japan's Nikkei lost 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index shed 1.3%.
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
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Trump hails ‘total victory' as US court quashes $464mn civil penalty
NEW YORK: A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum 'excessive' but upholding the judgment against him. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024 at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as 'lawfare.' 'It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform Thursday, adding that 'everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT.' When Engoron originally ruled against Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. were told to hand over more than $4 million each. The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms. Alongside the financial hit to Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the president repeatedly referred to as a 'corporate death penalty.' On Thursday, five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was 'excessive' and that it 'violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.' The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties. 'Massive win! State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, could now appeal to the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals. Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals. He repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as politically motivated. His son Don Jr. termed the appellate court ruling a 'massive win!!!' 'New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump's $500+ Million civil fraud penalty! It was always a witch hunt, election interference, and a total miscarriage of justice… and even a left leaning NY appeals court agrees! NO MORE LAWFARE!' he wrote on X. During hearings, conducted without a jury under state law, Trump accused then-president Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it 'weaponization against a political opponent who's up a lot in the polls.' As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment. Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro said at the White House Thursday that 'James is another one that belongs in jail,' referring to the New York attorney general. 'The Democrats really overplayed their hand on this because they thought they could take Donald Trump out,' he said.
Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Boeing in talks to sell up to 500 planes to China: Bloomberg
NEW YORK: US aviation giant Boeing is in talks to sell up to 500 aircraft to Chinese companies, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The deal would be a major win for the struggling US manufacturer, with company shares rising as high as 3.7 percent in pre-market trades, but up less than one percent about 15 minutes into Tuesday's session. Bloomberg's sources said the deal would be contingent on Washington and Beijing coming to a longer-term agreement in their simmering trade war. The Boeing deal would likely be a key facet of a US-China trade deal, according to Bloomberg, whose sources said Chinese officials had begun surveying domestic airlines for how many planes they would need. BD orders 25 Boeing planes as part of push to ease US tariffs Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has hit trading partners around the world with new tariffs, seeking to address US trade deficits that he says are evidence of unfair practices. Purchases of planes from Boeing, the largest US manufacturing exporter, often play a role in Trump's deals promising to offset trade imbalances. In July, the White House said that Japan had committed to buying 100 Boeing jets, and Indonesia 50 aircraft, as part of trade pacts negotiated to avoid steeper tariffs. Trump has taken particular aim at China in his attempt to remake international trade. Washington and Beijing have slapped tariffs on each other's products this year, with the escalation at one point rising to prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling trade, including a temporary halt to deliveries of Boeing jets. Both sides, however, agreed in May to temporarily lower the duties, and have issued subsequent 90-day extensions as they negotiate a longer-term deal. China's last major Boeing deal came early in Trump's first term in office, during his state visit in November 2017, when Beijing agreed to purchase 300 single and twin-aisle planes for more than $37 billion. Boeing in July reported a smaller second-quarter loss than the previous year, while delivering its most planes since 2018. The manufacturer has been dogged by quality control-related issues after the near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage panel on a 737 MAX in January 2024. That incident followed two deadly crashes of the popular MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019.
Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
China eyes agricultural, mining cooperation with Pakistan, foreign minister says
BEIJING: China is willing to cooperate with Pakistan in industry, agriculture and mining, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Thursday, according to a readout of the meeting released by Wang's ministry. Beijing would continue to support Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and combating terrorism, Wang told Dar, adding that China would continue to give priority to Pakistan in its regional diplomacy. Both countries should join hands to safeguard the multilateral trading system and oppose unilateral bullying, and upgrade the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he said. Wang, on a five-day tour of South Asia, has visited India and Afghanistan, mending and consolidating ties with China's neighbours to the south days before a leaders' summit in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China - his first visit in seven years - to attend the summit. At a press briefing on Thursday, Wang also welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to attend both the summit and activities to mark the formal surrender of Japan at the end of World War Two, which will feature a massive military parade in Beijing. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the parade in the Chinese capital on September 3. During Thursday's meeting with Dar, Wang again urged Pakistan to 'effectively safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel, projects and organisations in Pakistan'. Over the years China has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects in Pakistan under the Belt and Road Initiative. But security concerns have mounted, with Chinese workers repeatedly targeted in what Beijing has called terrorist attacks in the South Asian nation. 'China appreciates Pakistan's unremitting efforts and great sacrifices made in combating terrorism,' Wang said, according to a Chinese ministry statement.
