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A minor bullish wave was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining over 550 points during trading on Thursday. At 12:55pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 64,498.75, an increase of 578.91 points or 0.91%. The turnaround comes after the KSE-100 had seen some profit-taking and consolidation around the 64,000-65,000 level in the previous sessions. Sentiments, however, got some boost after the federal government borrowed Rs283 billion in the Market Treasury Bills auction held on Wednesday. Analysts said investors aggressively tried to lock in rates at higher yields amid expectation of rate fall. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), however, has not issued an advance calendar of its monetary policy committee meetings. When contacted by Business Recorder , the SBP acknowledged that it had yet to publish the monetary policy committee schedule. At the PSX, a mixed trend was witnessed with index-heavy sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs trading in the green, while the refinery and automobile sectors were trading in red. Investors remained interested in the energy sector, especially in OMCs and oil exploration companies. On Wednesday , investors chose to opt for profit-taking in selective stocks of banks and fertiliser sectors in the backdrop of increasing noise at the political front and absence of any positive trigger, making a 5th consecutive negative session at the PSX. The KSE-100 index settled at 63,919.85, down by 250.73 points or 0.39%. In a key development, the Ministry of Energy’s Directorate General of Petroleum Concessions (DGPC) also provisionally awarded four new exploration blocks in Balochistan and Sindh to Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL). Meanwhile, Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MARI) , one of the largest producers of natural gas in the country, has discovered gas reserves at Shewa-2 well, located in North Waziristan district Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Globally, Asian stocks rose on Thursday ahead of US inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s thinking on rate cuts, while the crypto world got a boost after exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin were approved in the United States. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.67% higher, on course to snap its seven-day losing streak. The blue-chip CSI 300 Index edged higher in early trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.5%. This is an intra-day update
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