KSE-100 ends pre-budget session with clipped gains
The pre-budget session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday ended with clipped gains as investors were wary of pouring investment before assessing details of FY22 budget. Concerns over the budget announcement later in the day kept market participants on the sidelines in initial trading, however, towards the end investors offloaded their stockholdings across the board. Moreover, the rise in international crude oil prices to fresh multi-year highs on expectations of recovery in fuel demand in the United States, Europe and China supported the local oil-related sectors at the bourse. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 53.23 points, or 0.11percent, to settle at 48,304.72.
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Nasdaq composite index closes above 14000
Thursday’s session closes with the NASDAQ Composite Index up above 14000 points. The index first reached the 14000 mark on Feb 9, 2021. The total shares traded for the NASDAQ was over 4.86 billion. Advancers stocks led declining by 1.13 to 1 ratio. There were 2343 advancers and 2073 decliners for the day. On the NASDAQ Stock Exchange 88 stocks reached a 52 week high and 8 those reaching lows totaled. The NASDAQ 100 index closed up 1.05 percent for the day; a total of 145.41 points. The current value is 13,960.35.
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S&P 500 ekes out another record close
U.S. stocks rose slightly on Friday with the S&P 500 adding to its new record, as Wall Street wrapped up the week on a high note. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent to a fresh closing high of 4,247.44, a second record close in a row. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4 percent to 14,069.42 with Apple, Microsoft and Netflix all registering gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13.36 points to 34,479.60. In terms of weekly results, the S&P 500 posted a 0.4 percent gain and marked its third consecutive positive week. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was the outperformer with a rally of nearly 1.9 percent and posting its fourth winning week in a row. The 30-stock Dow fell 0.8 percent on the week. The market built on Thursday’s gain as investors shrugged off a report showing inflation rising at its fastest pace since 2008. The Consumer Price Index jumped 5 percent in May from a year earlier, at a slightly higher pace than expected.
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FTSE 100 posts best week in over a month
London’s FTSE 100 index ended higher on Friday, helped by gains in mining and financial stocks, while a record annual jump in domestic economic output in April strengthened views of a stronger recovery from last year’s pandemic-driven disruption. The blue-chip index rose 0.7 percent, with precious metal miners and base metal miners jumping 0.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, while insurance stocks rose 1.3 percent. The index was up 0.95 percent for the week, its biggest percentage gain since the week ending May 7. Miners including Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP rose between 0.1 percent and 2.88 percent. The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 0.6 percent.
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France stocks lower at close of trade
France stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Foods & Drugs, Gas & Water and General Financial sectors led shares lower. At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.26 percent, while the SBF 120 index declined 0.26 percent. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 359 to 219 and 80 ended unchanged. The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was unchanged 0 percent to 18.96 a new 3-months low. Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.08 percent or 1.45 to $1896.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.47 percent or 0.33 to hit $70.29 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.50 percent or 0.36 to trade at $72.58 a barrel. EUR/USD was down 0.03 percent to 1.2174, while EUR/GBP fell 0.34 percent to 0.8593. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04 percent at 90.082.
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Tokyo’s key Nikkei index opens flat
Tokyo’s key Nikkei 225 index opened flat on Friday in cautious trade after a modest rally on the Dow on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 2.05 points at 28,956.51 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.18 percent or 3.48 points at 1,953.25. The dollar fetched 109.35 yen in early Asian trade against 109.32 yen in New York late Thursday. Toshiba traded down 1.48 percent at 4,650 yen after a third-party probe said the firm sought help from the industry ministry to swing a boardroom vote proposed by activist shareholders at its last regular annual general meeting. Japan Post was up 1.62 percent at 920.2 yen after it said it will buy back up to 250 billion yen ($2.3 billion) of shares from the finance ministry.
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Sensex ends 174 pts up
Market bulls rode the global momentum on Dalal Street on Friday, hitting new lifetime highs on the way. Bond yields in the US and Euro zone fell, with German 10-year yields set for their biggest fall this year, as investors bet on ultra-lose monetary policy to stay in place. Data published on Thursday showed that the US consumer price index swelled the most in a month since August 2008 at 5 percent, following a 4.2 percent rise in April. Yet global stocks hit record peaks as investors believed the Federal Reserve would continue to keep interest rates low to maintain the recovery pace. Moreover, the European Central Bank’s statement that a policy tightening at this stage would be premature and would pose a risk to the ongoing economic recovery further lent support to the bullish sentiment on the Street. The third factor adding to global rally was data from the UK which showed that Britain’s economic output grew by 2.3 cent on a monthly basis in April, marking the fastest growth since July last year. Globally, the Euro STOXX 600 added 0.3 percent, London shares gained 0.6 percent, while Paris climbed 0.4 percent.