Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its rally to accumulate gains on Thursday, as benchmark KSE 100 Index added over 500 points intraday. The index continued its upward momentum as Moody’s changed Pakistan banking outlook from negative to stable, affirming the B3 long term local currency deposit ratings which caused the price gains in banking sector stocks in general.

Gaining 538.79 points, the benchmark KSE 100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,809.31. It closed higher by 370.58 points at 40,641.10. The KMI 30 Index gained 694.12 points to close at 63,971.34, while the KSE All Share Index accumulated 277.17 points, ending at 28,711.70.

Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) surged 5pc on a weekly basis, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

On November 29, the forex reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $9,112.9 million, up $430.6 million compared with $8,682.3 million in the previous week. According to SBP data, such levels were last seen on April 26, 2019.

The central bank said, “In this fiscal year, the SBP reserves have increased by $1.8 billion,” The State Bank of Pakistan added, “Foreign exchange swaps/forward liabilities have decreased by $1.95 billion between June and October 2019. Increase in the liquid SBP reserves and reduction in the swaps/forward liabilities reflects the build-up of foreign exchange buffers.”

The overall trading volumes improved from 393.08 million in the previous session to 507.90million.All Share Volume increased by 114.75 Million to 507.90 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.90.60 Billion. Of the 94 traded companies in the KSE100 Index, 59 closed up 33 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 327.24 million shares. Sectors that propped up the index include banking adding 105.03 points, oil and gas exploration 79.95 points and oil and gas marketing 55.05 points. Among the companies, Pak Petroleum Limited, Habib Bank Limited and Pakistan State Oil Company Limited remained the top contributors to the index. Unity Foods Limited led the volume during the session, followed by Fauji Cement Company Limited and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited .The script had exchanged 35.24 million, 34.08 million and 20.52 million shares, respectively. Sectors that took the points off the index were Pharmaceuticals with 9 points, Investment Banks with 7 points, Glass & Ceramics with 2 points, Automobile Parts & Accessories with 1 point and Transport with 1 point. The most points taken off the index was by GLAXO which stripped the index of 9 points followed by MARI Cement with 9 points, Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 8 points, Millat Tractors Limited with 7 points and Kot Addu Power Company Limited with 5 points.

Asia: Stock markets in Asia are trading fractionally higher, as investors digested recent developments in trade talks between the U.S and China. Investors’ hopes were pinned upon reports that the world’s two biggest economies may soon seal a preliminary deal to end their seventeen-month trade war In Japan Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.71%, 23,300.09 as shares of index heavyweight and robot maker Fanucjumped 1.98%. The Shanghai Composite traded 0.74% higher to about 2,899.47 and the Shenzhen component rising 1.15% to 9,799.07. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.59%, as of its final hour of trading. India’s Nifty 50 was largely flat, recovering from a slip seen earlier after the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly kept interest rates unchanged. Markets widely anticipating a sixth rate cut from the Indian central bank amid a notable slowdown in the country’s economy.The Reserve Bank of India, downgraded its GDP growth outlook for 2019-2020 to 5% from 6.1%. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service also downgraded India’s Yes Bank Ltd.’s long-term foreign currency issuer rating to ‘B2’ from ‘Ba3’, bringing it down by two notches. The ratings agency has also downgraded the bank’s long-term foreign and local currency bank deposit ratings to ‘B2’ from ‘Ba3’, foreign currency senior unsecured medium-term note program rating to ‘(P)B2’ from ‘(P)Ba3’, and baseline credit International oil prices traded marginally lower ahead of OPEC meeting. The cartel is expected discuss deeper reductions in production quotas.Oil prices dipped in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures 0.11% lower at $62.93 per barrel.