PSX: KSE-100 up nearly 200 points

Business Recorder reported that the KSE-100 index was climbing during the opening minutes of Friday's session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. At 9:50am the benchmark stood at 177,500.38, a rise of 177.61 points or 0.10 per cent. Traders were buying automobile assemblers, oil and gas exploration firms, oil marketing companies, power generators and refineries.

Index-heavy counters ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO, HBL and NBP also traded in positive territory. On Thursday, late profit-taking erased early gains and the index closed at 177,322.78 after a fall of 47.93 points or 0.03 per cent. Wider market measures also finished that session mostly in the red.

Overseas, Asian shares turned cautious after a technology rally powered by Nvidia, while markets awaited comments from Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh at the Jackson Hole Symposium. Brent crude eased 0.1 per cent to $89.63 a barrel, though it was on course for a weekly decline of more than 5 per cent after Iran and Oman agreed to jointly manage Strait of Hormuz traffic and share revenues. Futures are pricing roughly a 35 per cent chance of a Fed rate increase at its September 16 meeting.