A volatile session was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 600 points amid selling pressure due to rollover of futures contracts during intra-day trading on Monday.
At 2:20pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 148,904.26, a decrease of 588.79 points or 0.39%.
Analysts said the market is witnessing profit-taking at the start of the rollover week.
“Approximately, Rs77 billion worth of outstanding future positions need to be rolled over,” Saad Hanif, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities.
It is pertinent to mention that a rollover week is a period, particularly in futures trading, when existing contracts are closed out and new contracts are opened for the next month, allowing traders to maintain their positions.
Selling pressure was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, SNGPL, SSGC and WAFI, traded in the red.
During the previous week, Pakistan’s equity market maintained its bullish momentum, amid robust earnings announcements and strong investor participation. The benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an intraday high of 151,262 points before closing at 149,493 points, up 3,001 points or 2% week-on-week basis.
Globally, Asian share markets rose on Monday as investors gave a cautious welcome to the likely resumption of US interest rate cuts, while hoping AI-superstar Nvidia’s results this week will help justify the sector’s stratospheric valuations.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish change of course has seen futures price in an 84% chance of a quarter-point rate cut in September, and at least 100 basis points of easing to 3.25-3.5% by the middle of next year.
The shift shoved Treasury yields and the dollar lower, flattering the outlook for corporate earnings, though it also implies policymakers now see more danger of a downturn in employment and the economy.
The market’s euphoria will also be tested by a reading on US personal consumption prices on Friday that is expected to show core inflation creeping up to its highest since late 2023 at 2.9%.
Any upside surprise to inflation would also challenge the rally in longer-dated Treasuries, especially given a whopping $183 billion in new debt is being sold this week.
For now, investors were content to follow Wall Street’s lead and Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.6%. South Korean stocks gained 0.7% and Australia’s index 0.4%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.1%, led by a further 1.0% rise in Chinese blue chips.
The Chinese index has climbed almost 9% so far this month to test peaks from October last year, and a break would take it to ground not seen since mid-2022.
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