MarketRadar read: positive

The KSE-100 closed Thursday at 167,193.43. The gain was 1,456.68 points, or 0.88%, from Wednesday's 165,736.76. It was the fourth straight winning session. Across Wednesday and Thursday the benchmark added 2,726.23 points.

Trading opened on the front foot. The index pushed more than 1,700 points above the prior close during the session. The peak print was 167,483.48. By midday it had traded between 165,907.29 and that peak, and it stood at 166,873.49, up 1,136.74 points or 0.69% at that point. The close sat 290.05 points below the peak, so the afternoon added about 320 points to the midday level.

Gains came from banks, fertilizer, refiners and investment banks. Fauji Fertilizer, Engro Holdings, Habib Bank, MCB Bank and United Bank were named among the main contributors. Turnover stayed heavy. About 366.12 million KSE-100 shares changed hands. The broader All-Share index rose 806.11 points or 0.80% to 101,164.95 on 815.04 million shares. Cnergyico PK alone accounted for 184 million shares. K-Electric followed at 47 million, Pakistan Telecommunication at 15 million and Bank of Punjab at 14 million. The KSE-30 added 482.30 points or 0.99% to 49,320.68.

Company results kept doing the work. Pakistan State Oil and Mari Energies followed earlier prints from Fauji Fertilizer and Hub Power with encouraging numbers of their own. Lucky Cement's capacity expansion plan added a second thread to the earnings story. Outside the market, Brent fell about 1% to near $114 a barrel, trimming one cost pressure that had hung over the week. The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady overnight, removing one source of overnight uncertainty before the Karachi open. The State Bank's 50-basis-point rate rise to 12% on October 26 had already been absorbed over the prior two sessions.

Gold holds flat after Wednesday's jump

Gold gave back none of Wednesday's rise. The All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association rate for 24-karat gold stayed at Rs 425,636 per tola on Thursday. Ten grams stayed at Rs 364,914, and 10 grams of 22-karat stayed at Rs 334,516. The international price matched that flat line at $4,031 an ounce. Wednesday's Rs 3,500 per tola increase is therefore the whole of the week's gold move so far: the metal rose one day and stood still the next, while the equity market rose on both days.

Silver moved the other way. It fell Rs 86 per tola to Rs 5,768, with 10 grams at Rs 4,945. The international silver price slipped $0.86 to $52.90 an ounce.

City-level quotes from gold.pk's 1 pm snapshot sat below the association's national rate. That is a different quote basis rather than a contradiction. Karachi bid Rs 421,000 and asked Rs 422,000 per tola. Lahore quoted Rs 421,050 and Rs 422,050, Islamabad Rs 421,100 and Rs 422,100, Peshawar Rs 421,150 and Rs 422,150, and Quetta Rs 421,200 and Rs 422,200. The Rs 3,636 gap between Karachi's ask and the national rate is the size of that basis difference.

Rupee firms one paisa in the interbank market

The rupee closed Thursday at Rs 276.76 per dollar in the interbank market. That is one paisa firmer than Wednesday's Rs 276.77 close. The National Bank of Pakistan's Thursday treasury board quoted the dollar at Rs 276.65 buying and Rs 277.15 selling, a 50-paisa spread inside the banking channel.

Open-market dealer boards quoted a wider pair: buying at Rs 277.40 and selling at Rs 280.10, a spread of Rs 2.70. That puts the open-market selling rate Rs 3.34 above the interbank close, a premium of about 1.2% for street liquidity. The two markets should not be read as one rate. The interbank figure prices bank-to-bank settlement. The open-market figure prices cash over a counter.

Read together, Thursday's three legs tell a calm story rather than a heated one. Stocks rose for a fourth day on earnings, gold stood still after a one-day jump, and the currency moved by a single paisa. Friday's session will test whether the equity run extends to five days after the Tribune's own reporting flagged possible profit-taking. The next batch of company results remains the cleaner signal for that question than any single oil headline.

Key points

  • KSE-100 closed Thursday, October 29, at 167,193.43, up 1,456.68 points (0.88%) from 165,736.76.
  • Day high: 167,483.48; midday range reported as 165,907.29 to 167,483.48.
  • KSE-100 volume: about 366.12 million shares; All-Share volume: 815.04 million shares.
  • Gold: 24K unchanged at Rs 425,636 per tola; 10 grams at Rs 364,914; silver down Rs 86 to Rs 5,768 per tola.
  • Dollar: interbank close Rs 276.76 (up one paisa); open-market selling Rs 280.10, buying Rs 277.40.
  • City gold quotes (gold.pk, 1 pm): Karachi ask Rs 422,000; Lahore Rs 422,050; Islamabad Rs 422,100; Peshawar Rs 422,150; Quetta Rs 422,200 per tola.