KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Pakistan stock market opened in positive territory on the fourth day of the trading week as investors focus on a high-stake meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.
The KSE-100 index surged by over 1,000 points, reaching 168,528 points.
In comparison, the index had closed at 167,451 points on the previous trading day, marking a loss of 1,465 points.
Investors appeared optimistic at the market opening, driving the early rally.
Meanwhile, stocks rose on Thursday, powered by AI fervour that pushed South Korea's SK Hynix to the brink of joining the trillion-dollar club, while the spotlight was firmly on a high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping.
Trump received a grand welcome at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Thursday as he opened talks with President Xi, expected to focus on their fragile trade truce and flashpoints such as the Iran war and arms sales to Taiwan.
China's blue-chip stocks eased 1% after hitting their highest level since late 2021 at the start of the session, while the yuan rose to a three-year high against the dollar as traders watched the headlines from the Trump-Xi meeting.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.3%, hovering near the record-high hit last week.
Japan's Nikkei was perched at a new all-time peak with data showing AI-linked demand partly helped lift earnings for Japanese firms. Seoul's KOSPI gave up its early gains to trade flat on the day.
SK Hynix, one of the AI darlings in Asia, is on the verge of reaching $1 trillion market cap, becoming the second South Korean firm after Samsung to break into the trillion-dollar club. SK Hynix stock is up over 200% this year.