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 intra-day 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 intra-day 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%.

“The refinery sector remained the talk of the town after news reports indicated that the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) had approved amendments to the Pakistan Oil Refining Policy 2023, removing the remaining hurdles that had delayed the execution of refinery upgrade agreements since the policy’s initial notification in August 2023. The development sparked strong buying interest across the sector, with ATRL, PRL, NRL, and CNERGY all closing the session in positive territory, outperforming the broader market,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

On the flip side, UBL, OGDC, HUBC, PPL, and BOP emerged as the major drags on the benchmark index, collectively eroding approximately 318 points, it added.

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.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee extended its marginal gains against the US dollar on Tuesday. The local unit closed the day at 277.85, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 958.01 million from 1,032.19 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs41.57 billion from Rs41.02 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 273.05 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 72.25 million shares, and Trust Brokerage with 63.66 million shares.

Shares of 495 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 156 registered an increase, 306 recorded a fall, and 33 remained unchanged.