PSX: Stocks gain over 800 points in early trade

Pakistan Stock Exchange investors pushed the benchmark KSE-100 higher on Friday, lifting it 807.99 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 177,399.75 at 9:19am, according to Business Recorder. Buying was concentrated in automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil marketing companies and refineries.

Heavyweight names such as FFC, HBL, MEBL, NBP and UBL, together with MARI, were trading in positive territory during the opening minutes. On Thursday, the index closed 254.59 points, or 0.14 per cent, lower at 176,591.77 as renewed geopolitical tension and costlier oil kept traders wary.

Abroad, most Asian share indices were heading for weekly losses as strain in global bond markets persisted, while a diplomatic deadlock in the Gulf pushed oil to one-month highs. US Treasury yields resumed their climb despite an intervention by the Treasury earlier in the week, and the Nikkei slipped 0.8 per cent.