Volatility at bourse, KSE-100 settles over 600 points lower

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a volatile trading session on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging sharply between gains and losses before closing with a loss of over 600 points.

After opening on a positive note and climbing to an intraday high of 179,123.00, the index failed to sustain its upward momentum as selling pressure emerged across the market, dragging it lower during the session.

The index touched an intraday low of 177,434.96 in late afternoon before recovering slightly towards the end.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 177,623.88, down by 638.45 points, or 0.36%.

Despite signs of improvement in Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Monday left the policy rate unchanged at 11.5%, citing heightened external risks following the resurgence of conflict in the Middle East.

On Monday, the PSX witnessed a historic rally as investor confidence returned following the suspension of military strikes between the United States and Iran, raising hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict and the reopening of key shipping routes.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 7,241.13 points, or 4.23%, to close at 178,262.34 points.

Internationally, Asian markets fell on Tuesday, led by chipmakers on unease about the massive funding demands of the AI boom, while a slide ​in oil prices did relatively little to lift bonds and left traders nervous about US rate hikes, ‌maybe as soon as this week.

South Korea’s KOSPI dived more than 8% to a three-month low, triggering a circuit breaker, and Japan’s Nikkei slid 4%, following a 2.2% drop for the Philadelphia Semiconductor index.

Nvidia shares shed 5% overnight after the Wall Street Journal reported the company is in talks ​to provide roughly $250 billion in financing guarantees for OpenAI as part of a massive data centre project.

And the stellar ​466% debut-day surge in CXMT Corp shares in Shanghai highlighted growing investor enthusiasm for China’s semiconductor ⁠sector and the rising competitive threat from Chinese rivals.

China has also begun manufacturing domestically ​developed immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines, a chipmaking tool long dominated by Dutch supplier ASML, The Information reported on Monday, sending ASML shares down 8.5%.

South Korea’s SK Hynix fell nearly 11%, and Samsung Electronics shares shed more than 9%, while in Tokyo some of the heaviest losers were Kioxia, ​down 18%, and Tokyo Electron, down 9.8%.

Chinese stocks also beat a retreat, with CXMT down 7% in early trade and chipmaking ​indexes lower.