The stock market is in the midst of a strong November rally, and, the gains could last through year-end ‘thanks’ to an IMF standby agreement and announcements of general elections polls date.
The KSE PSX 100-index started with a record positive business in the Pakistan Stock Exchange as it gained by 489.03 points to reach 57,860.61 points.
The stock market was up for consecutive trading sessions last week and reached 57,860 at 19:59 am.
The IMF standby-agreement and announcement of the general elections date are reasons behind bullishness and investor confidence in PSX.
Wall Street ends lower, gold jumps as Fed minutes reveal cautious policy approach
The U.S. stocks dipped on Tuesday and gold touched a two-week high while minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting showed the central bank is "in a position to proceed carefully."
All three major U.S. stock indexes ended slightly lower, with the tech-laden Nasdaq down the most ahead of Nvidia's results after the closing bell. The chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates. Its shares were last slightly lower in extended trading.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both snapped five-day winning streaks.
"We've had a very sharp rally, and some profit-taking was probably overdue," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "A lot of traders want to take money off the table on a day like today ahead of the holiday."
The Fed's minutes from its Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting showed the policy makers wrestling with conflicting signals and agreeing to continue with caution after voting to leave the Fed funds target rate at 5.25 per cent-5.50 per cent.
The minutes "confirm the statement from the last meeting and (Chairman Jerome) Powell's news conference afterward that the Fed is likely on hold for now," Ghriskey added. "If inflation re-accelerated they would likely have to act, but absent that, we're in a period of higher-for-longer rates and we take them at their word for that."
On the economic front, existing home sales tumbled to their lowest level in more than 13 years as rising mortgage rates and low inventories kept potential homebuyers on the sidelines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.75 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 35,088.29, the S&P 500 lost 9.19 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 4,538.19 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 84.55 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 14,199.98.
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