KSE-100 powers past 41,000 with rise of 528 points
In a positive turn of events, bullish sentiment prevailed at the stock market on Thursday as the index gained over 600 points in intra-day trading and ended the day in the black.
The KSE-100 index dipped soon after trading began, but buying momentum later helped reverse the trend.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 527.87 points or 1.30 percent to settle at 41,049.91. Overall, trading volumes increased to 149 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 137 million.
The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.7 billion. Shares of 367 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 179 stocks closed higher, 169 declined and 19 remained unchanged. Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 21.9 million shares, losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs51.06. It was followed by Unity Foods with 11 million shares, losing Rs2 to close at Rs38.16 and K-Electric with 8.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.10 to close at Rs5.37. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs989.8 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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US stocks little changed
US stocks ended little changed on Friday as financials gained with bond yields, while news that President Donald Trump instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more of Chinese products limited gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.68 points, or 0.03 percent, to 26,154.67, the S&P 500 gained 0.79 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,904.97 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.67 points, or 0.05 percent, to 8,010.04.
US stocks edged higher on Friday as banks gained after 10-year US Treasury yields topped 3 percent, but gains were capped by a drop in the rate-sensitive utilities, real estate and telecom sectors.
Financial stocks rose 0.73 percent, the most among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, after the benchmark government yield broke back above the key technical level for the first time since the start of Aug. 2.
Helping drive yields was an upward revision in US retail sales for July, which kept intact expectations of strong economic growth in the third quarter. August sales, however, recorded their smallest gain in six months.
With yields moving higher, the real estate index fell 1.24 percent and utilities 0.78 percent. Telecoms declined 0.75 percent.
Also weighing on utilities was NiSource, which tumbled 9.1 percent after fire investigators said they suspected the company’s unit, Columbia Gas, was linked to a series of gas explosions in Boston suburbs on Thursday.
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India Sensex logs gain on macro data booster
Indian stock markets (Sensex and Nifty) ended higher on Friday on the positive macro data, lower crude oil, weakness in US dollar, optimism ahead of PM Modi’s economic review meeting due later today with Sensex rallying 373 points and Nifty closing at 11,515.20.
In the intra-day dealings, the benchmark Sensex surged as much as 407.66 points to a day’s high of 38,125.62 and the wider share indicator Nifty 50 moved up 153.35 points to a day’s top of 11,523.25.
The Indian rupee rode on the macro booster after CPI and WPI inflation eased to 10-month and 4-month lows, respectively. Indian equities rushed into positive territory on Friday morning following CPI-based inflation eased to 10-month low and positive global cues. The Indian rupee on Friday marked considerable recovery against the US dollar and climbed up as much as 66 paise per unit USD to 71.5250 from the Wednesday’s closing of 72.1850, the Bloomberg data showed.
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FTSE tracks Europe higher; shire shines
Britain’s top share index tracked higher European markets on Friday with the mood buoyed by easing trade worries, while Shire rose after China cleared Takeda’s plans to buy the drugmaker.
The FTSE 100 ended up 0.3 percent, underpinned by gains among industrials and materials sectors, which more than offset weakness among utilities, hit earlier this week by a profit warning from SSE.
On Friday, the pound slipped after touching its highest level since early August. The index, whose constituents make more than two-thirds of their sales abroad, remains down around 5 percent so far in 2018. Shire rose 2.2 percent.
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Tokyo stocks close higher
Tokyo stocks closed higher on Friday, backed by a weaker yen and gains on Wall Street, as traders took comfort in more conciliatory messages on US-China trade battles.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.20 percent or 273.35 points to end at 23,094.67, while the broader Topix index added 1.09 percent or 18.59 points to 1,728.61.
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Hong Kong stocks rise
Hong Kong stocks rose again on Friday morning, extending the previous day’s surge, on hopes for China-US trade talks and following a below-par US inflation report.
The Hang Seng Index rose 0.81 percent, or 218.05 points, to 27,232.54 by the break.
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Canada’s TSX rises
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX rose 11.78 points, or 0.07 percent, to 16,013.49.
Leading the index were Aphria Inc, up 13.0 percent, Canopy Growth Corp, up 7.4 percent, and Stars Group Inc , higher by 7.2 percent. Lagging shares were Alacer Gold Corp, down 4.5 percent, Interfor Corp, down 4.2 percent, and Guyana Goldfields Inc, lower by 4.1 percent.
On the TSX 111 issues rose and 123 fell as a 0.9-to-1 ratio favored decliners. There were 5 new highs and 8 new lows, with total volume of 194.3 million shares. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aurora Cannabis Inc, Aphria Inc and Canopy Growth Corp.
The TSX’s energy group fell 0.47 points, or 0.25 percent, while the financials sector climbed 0.91 points, or 0.3 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.51 percent, or $0.35, to $68.94 a barrel. Brent crude fell 0.1 percent, or $0.08, to $78.1. The TSX is off 1.2 percent for the year.
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Brazil markets bounce
Brazilian markets ticked higher on Friday, bolstered by a new presidential election poll and by a broader emerging markets rally, sending the benchmark Bovespa index up more than half a percentage point as the real currency gained about 0.4 percent.
The market movement followed a private poll by XP Investimentos that still put far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro comfortably ahead in the first round, but had a four-way tie for runner-up, including market-favorite Geraldo Alckmin. Bolsonaro and his runner-up are expected to compete in a second round of voting following the vote on Oct. 7.
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Sri Lanka shares down
Sri Lankan shares fell to a more-than-two-week closing low on Friday as investors sold beverage and banking shares, even as foreign investors continued to trim their equity exposure for a third straight day.
Analysts said foreign investors sold a net 340.7 million rupees worth of equities on Friday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 4.8 billion rupees worth of shares.
Sentiment was also weighed down by the local currency hitting a fresh low for the third straight session. The Colombo stock index ended 0.49 percent weaker at 6,031.26, its lowest close since Aug. 28. It lost 1.4 percent this week, falling for the fist time in four weeks. The day’s turnover was 786.1 million rupees ($4.81 million), less than this year’s daily average of 799.1 million rupees.