The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed marginally higher on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious amid concerns related to the talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The market opened on a negative note, dragging the index to an intra-day low of 115,877.88. However, buying interest soon emerged at the bourse, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 116,904.55.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 116,633.16 level, an increase of 193.54 points or 0.17%.
“The local bourse experienced a volatile session today, attempting to recover from yesterday’s sharp sell-off……This volatility can be attributed to the lack of clarity regarding the IMF review and the SLA [staff level agreement], which has kept investor sentiment cautious,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
The positive momentum was largely supported by OGDC, HUBC, PSO, MEBL, and SNGP, which collectively added 394 points to the index. On the flip side, SYS, TRG, and UBL weighed on sentiment, erasing 153 points from the gains, Topline said.
On Monday, the PSX faced selling pressure as the KSE-100 lost over 2,000 points, with analysts attributing the downturn to concerns related to the IMF loan.
Globally, Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, taking cues from the Wall Street, as the prospect of narrower-than-feared US tariffs boosted risk appetite, while the dollar hovered near three-week highs after upbeat economic data provided some comfort.
Investors have been focused on the impending reciprocal tariffs promised by US President Donald Trump and its impact on the global economy as trade war fears grip markets.
Trump said on Monday automobile tariffs are coming soon even as he indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks.
That was enough for investors to send US stocks higher.
The S&P 500 closed at its highest in over two weeks, while a rally in tech stocks led Nasdaq up over 2%. Asian stock bourses joined in on Tuesday morning, with Japan’s Nikkei and stocks in Taiwan rising over 1%. European futures also pointed higher in early Asian hours.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.02% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the currency settled at 280.42, a fall of Re0.05 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 268.09 million from 311.97 million recorded in the previous close.
Whereas, the value of shares declined to Rs19.45 billion from Rs20.95 billion in the previous session.
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 23.53 million shares, followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 22.83 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 14.45 million shares.
Shares of 436 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 155 registered an increase, 214 recorded a fall, while 67 remained unchanged.
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