Buying returns to bourse, KSE-100 up nearly 300 points in early trade

Positive sentiments returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining nearly 300 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday. At 9:45am, the benchmark index was hovering at 166,416.18, an increase of 270.84 points or 0.16 percent. Across-the-board buying was observed in key sectors, including commercial banks, cement, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, HBL, MEBL, NBP, MARI, OGDC and POL, traded in the green. On Wednesday, PSX came under heavy pressure as a wave of institutional selling, triggered by renewed concerns over valuation fatigue and profit-taking after recent gains, pushed the market into a sharp, broad-based decline.