Daily Times

After Tuesday’s correction, the Pakistan Stock exchange (PSX) gained 1.2% as the index settled higher by 481.79 points clocking at 40,270.52.

The indices remained positive throughout the session, though the market took a dip and fell by 129 points during the session.

Investors’ confidence dampened during the early trade, after the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for the month of November clocked in at 12.67pc, marginally above market consensus at 12.45pc. The July-November average inflation is 10.79 percent compared to 6.10 percent from the corresponding period last year. However heavy individual buying lifted up the investors’ sentiments and the overall index.

KSE-100 added 517.82 points, as the Index stormed past the 40,000-mark to record its intraday high at 40,306.55. The KMI-30 Index added 679.13 points to close at 63,277.22, while the KSE All Share Index accumulated 315.80 points, ending the session at 28,434.53.The overall trading volumes contracted from 448.88 million in the previous session to 393.08 million. Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 81 closed up 11 closed down, while 4 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 240.10 million shares.

The Sectors propping up KSE-100 Index accumulate gains includes banking adding 123.79 points, cement 68.77 points and oil and gas marketing 53.44 points. Among the companies, Pakistan State Oil Company Limited Lucky Cement Limited, MCB Bank Limited and United Bank Limited remained the top point contributors to the index.

The most points added to the index was by PSO which contributed 41 points followed by Lucky Cement Limited with 34 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 32 points, United Bank Limited with 31 points and DG Khan Cement with 17 points.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Food & Personal Care Products with 2 points and Leather & Tanneries with 1 points.

The most points taken off the index was by ENGRO which stripped the index of 18 points followed by K-Electric limited with 4 points, National Foods Limited with 4 points.

Meanwhile, domestic cement despatches increased 5.11pc to 3.538 million tonnes, while exports surged 43.53pc to 0.808 million tonnes in November 2019.

The overall cement despatches grew by 10.61pc to 4.346 million tonnes in Nov 2019, when compared with the same last year.

The cement mills based in the northern part of the country despatched 3.241 million tonnes while southern mills despatched 1.105 million tonnes clinker and cement.

Asia: Stock markets across Asia slumped after U.S. President Donald Trump said he may delay a trade deal with China till after the 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

Investors offloaded trade-sensitive stocks over rising fears about global trade tensions.Investors have been anticipating a “phase one” trade deal between Washington and Beijing to be inked, ahead of a closely watched date of Dec. 15, when additional tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. are set to kick in.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.05% to close at 23135.23, as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing plummeted more than 5.21%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.25% Soul’s, while South Korea’s Kospished 0.73% as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix fell 1.27% to close at 2068.89, following tech stocks’ losses on Wall Street.

Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed on the day, with the Shanghai composite down 0.23% to about 2,878.12 while the Shenzhen component was up 0.31% to 9,687.95.

Meanwhile, international oil prices have gained o.72 % over expectations that OPEC will slash its production quotas. OPEC members will host a meeting in Vienna, Austria on Thursday to discuss the next phase of their oil production policy. The 14-member group will then hold talks with non-OPEC allies on Friday. The wider group, referred to as OPEC+, has reduced output by 1.2 million barrels per day since the beginning of the year. The current deal, which runs through to March 2020, replaced a previous round of production cuts that began in January 2017.Brent crude prices have fallen more than 17% since an April peak, with WTI down around 14% over the same period.