PSX: buying at bourse, KSE-100 up 600 points

Business Recorder reported that buying returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, lifting the KSE-100 index by more than 600 points in the first minutes of the session. Around 9:48am the benchmark stood at 166,521.38, a gain of 654.07 points or 0.39 per cent.

Buying was seen in auto assemblers, cement makers, bank stocks, gas and oil explorers, fuel marketers, power producers and refinery operators. Index heavyweights including ARL, HUBCO, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, NBP and UBL moved into positive territory. Monday's session had been much weaker, as political tension in the region and at home, combined with higher global crude prices, sparked broad selling. The benchmark had shed 2,288.17 points, or 1.36 per cent, to close at 165,867.32 that day.

Overseas, Asian shares advanced on Tuesday as a technology-driven rally pushed the Nasdaq index to its highest close ever, while cheaper oil offered additional support. The euro stayed near 17-month lows after briefly reaching $1.116 overnight, under pressure from growing fiscal worries in France and a snap election called in Spain. Nvidia gained 2.1 per cent to a record-high close, lifting its valuation to $5.76 trillion. The overnight Nasdaq record was buoyed by jobs figures that came in below expectations and eased talk of a Federal Reserve rate hike this month.