Daily Times

The 100-Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with bearish trend on Thursday, losing 1,319.80 points, a negative change of 1.46 percent, closing at 88,966.77 points as compared to 90,286.57 points on last trading day.

A total of 546,274,609 shares were traded during the day as compared to 614,564,066 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 24.117 billion against Rs. 27.341 billion on the last trading day. As many as 437 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 137 of them recorded gains and 240 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 60 companies remained unchanged.

The three top trading companies were K-Electric Limited with 73,617,949 shares at Rs 4.44 per share, Bank of Punjab with 42,667,349 shares at Rs 5.82 per share and WorldCall Telecom with 25,898,091 shares at Rs1.22 per share. Hoechst Pakistan Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs.140.46 per share price, closing at Rs 2,257.58, whereas the runner-up was Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited with Rs 112.49 rise in its per share price to Rs 19,100.00.

PIA Holding Company Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 91.28 per share closing at Rs 831.24 followed by Nestle Pakistan Limited with Rs 75.73 decline to close at Rs 6,552.02.

Separately, Global stocks slid Thursday as investors digested disappointing tech results and remained risk-adverse ahead of a coin-toss US election. Data showing the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure cooled further last month and now sits just above its long-term target — a positive sign for future interest-rate cuts — failed to boost sentiment. Microsoft and Facebook-parent Meta reported expectations-beating results Wednesday following the closing bell, but saw their share prices fall.

“Both Microsoft and Meta topped earnings expectations, yet the stocks are being victimized by high expectations, valuation angst, and festering concerns about the timing and scope of returns on their massive AI investment activity,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Microsoft shares fell five percent after the opening bell. Meta shares slid 1.6 percent.

“The response to their reports has tempered investor enthusiasm for the reports from Apple and Amazon.com after today’s close,” he added. Wall Street’s three main indices slid at the start of trading, with O’Hare also pointing to an increase in US government bond yields as also weighing upon equities. Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said traders were “wary of taking on new risk as the US election countdown begins”.

Uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming US elections, meanwhile, buoyed safe haven gold, which touched a fresh high of $2,790.10 an ounce on Thursday.

In Europe, both Frankfurt and Paris were lower after official data showed the eurozone’s annual inflation rebounded more than expected in October due to rising food costs. Shares in French bank Societe Generale jumped over 10 percent after it reported better-than-expected results.

Meanwhile its rival BNP Paribas saw its shares slump over four percent after results fell short of expectations.

London shed 0.8 percent after the new centre-left government unveiled major tax hikes, mainly targeted at businesses, in its maiden budget.

“This was one of the largest increases in tax, spending and borrowing in the UK’s budget history”, said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.

“For a government that planned to boost growth, they have fallen spectacularly at the first hurdle,” she added.

Tokyo fell by half a percent, weighed down by a stronger yen and a drop in stocks linked to the semiconductor industry, which also dipped on Wall Street.

The Bank of Japan decided to leave its main interest rate unchanged, saying in an outlook report that there were “high uncertainties surrounding Japan’s economic activities and prices”.

Mainland Chinese markets, however, made healthy gains following a forecast-beating manufacturing report — in a piece of rare good news for leaders struggling to boost activity in the world’s second-largest economy.

Oil prices continued their rebound, fuelled by good news on demand from the United States, as well as by press reports that OPEC countries are considering postponing an increase in crude supply.