The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another volatile yet broadly positive trading session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a gain of nearly 900 points.
The session kicked off on a weak note, with the index dipping sharply in early trade before staging a strong rebound by mid-morning.
Momentum accelerated, pushing the benchmark steadily higher as buying interest strengthened across key heavyweights, pushing the benchmark index to an intra-day high of 183,801.70.
The index faced profit-taking pressure in the latter half of the trading session, leading to a gradual pullback, but a late recovery helped trim losses.
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 183,049.80, an increase of 896.25 points or 0.49%.
“Support from major heavyweights—ENGROH, LUCK, FABL, MCB, and BAFL—underpinned the market’s performance, jointly adding 920 points to the benchmark. In contrast, BAHL, PPL, and UBL weighed on the index, collectively trimming 311 points from the day’s gains, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Pakistan and Indonesia on Tuesday agreed to expedite efforts to transform their existing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) into a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by 2027, marking a significant step towards strengthening bilateral economic ties.
On Tuesday, PSX closed marginally lower as sustained selling pressure offset select gains in fertiliser, keeping investor sentiment. The benchmark KSE-100 Index ended the session down by 186.83 points, or 0.10%, to close at 182,153.55 points.
Internationally, bonds jumped, and a rebound in stock markets slowed down on Wednesday after softer-than-expected US retail sales figures, while a rally in the yen has extended and might be beginning to signal a shift in investor thinking since Japan’s election.
Trade in Asia was lightened by a holiday in Japan, and markets in Hong Kong and China opened around flat.
Gold rose back above $5,000 an ounce, and Treasury futures climbed a little, with the cash market closed.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell nearly six basis points overnight and touched a one-month low of 4.14% after data showed a 0.1% dip in core US retail sales in December and downward revisions to November and October figures.
Yields fall when bond prices rise. The S&P 500 closed 0.3% lower, as a recovery from last week’s heavy selling in software shares starts to lose momentum.
Alphabet shares, which fell 1.8%, weighed on the market as the Google parent is in the midst of raising debt to fund an AI infrastructure spending spree.
In Asia, S&P 500 futures were 0.2% higher, Nikkei futures rose, though the cash market was shut for a holiday, and earnings drove moves in the Australian market, which was up 1% around the middle of the day in Sydney.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee posted marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.66, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 734.67 million from 1,062.31 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs35.39 billion from Rs37.88 billion in the previous session.
K.Electric was the volume leader with 120.60 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 81.78 million shares, and F. Nat.Equities with 51.95 million shares.
Shares of 477 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 208 registered an increase, 223 recorded a fall, and 46 remained unchanged.
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