After observing buying momentum in the initial hours of trading, profit-taking returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 Index to close the day lower by 810 points.
The KSE-100 started Tuesday’s session positively, hitting an intra-day high of 113,649.08.
However, selling pressure in the latter hours erased the intra-day gains and pushed the index to an intra-day low of 111,828.11.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 111,935.38, down by 809.63 points or 0.72%.
On Monday, the KSE-100 lost over 1,500 points following a worldwide sell-off sparked after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.
Trump paused tariffs on Mexico for one month and negotiations with Canada were also going on over the matter.
However, according to brokerage house Intermarket Securities, the market is likely to remain range-bound in the near term due to the lack of new positive triggers and fresh liquidity.
Another brokerage house, Topline Securities said Tuesday’s decline was mainly due to local institutional selling.
The drop was largely driven by ENGOH, MTL, FFC, BAHL, and PPL, which together contributed 430 points to the loss, it added.
Globally, Hong Kong shares hit two-month highs, US equity futures rose and currencies swung to and fro in big ranges as investors scrambled to keep up with sudden changes in US trade policy.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.4% on Tuesday and the dollar reversed gains on Mexico’s peso and the Canadian dollar after promises to increase border enforcement prompted US President Donald Trump to suspend imminent tariffs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2.5%, even though an additional 10% tariff was due to hit Chinese goods from 0501 GMT, with electric vehicle makers leading the charge.
European equity futures rose by a more cautious 0.2%. Oil, which had jumped, slipped, and at $75.46 Brent crude futures were near to a one-month low.
Bitcoin which had sunk close to $91,000 a day earlier, traded around $102,000.
Australian shares advanced 0.4% and Japanese stocks rose 1.7%, though gains were smaller than Monday’s losses as trade-war fears swept financial markets.
Trump’s press secretary said he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a couple of days.
Chinese markets remain shut for the Lunar New Year break.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the currency settled at 278.96 for a gain of Re0.08 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 436.33 million from 401.46 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares rose to Rs23.23 billion from Rs20.35 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 54.62 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 21.09 million shares, and K-Electric Ltd with 20.62 million shares.
Shares of 440 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 129 registered an increase, 255 recorded a fall, while 56 remained unchanged.
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