Karachi, Pakistan (October 16, 2024): The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a significant surge on Wednesday, driven by investor optimism surrounding the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 600 points during the early trading hours.
As of 10:40 AM, the index was trading at 86,467.75, up by 627.41 points or 0.73%. Key sectors such as automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs experienced strong buying activity. Index-heavy stocks, including OGDC, PPL, PSO, HUBCO, and HBL, traded in the green.
The two-day meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) kicked off in Pakistan on Tuesday. The event is being attended by seven prime ministers, a vice president, a foreign minister, and other senior leaders. Notably, India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan for the summit marked a significant diplomatic milestone.
On Tuesday, the KSE-100 index had closed at 85,840.34, up by 578.96 points or 0.68%.
Globally, Asian markets were trading lower on Wednesday, influenced by disappointing earnings from ASML, Europe’s largest tech firm. This dragged chip stocks down worldwide. Additionally, expectations of a modest rate cut path by the Federal Reserve supported the dollar.
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