After two days of selling pressure, buying momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 1,300 points on Wednesday.
Buying interest was observed throughout the trading session, pushing the benchmark index to an intra-day high of 162,741.73
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 162,226.27, a gain of 1,291.14 points or 0.80%.
“Investor sentiment remained broadly constructive, with key index heavyweights – FFC, PPL, OGDC, PSO, and EFERT – serving as principal drivers of the upward movement. Collectively, these constituents contributed approximately 1,383 points to the overall index performance,” brokerage house Topline Securities said.
On Tuesday, PSX was consumed by strong selling pressure culminating in a decidedly bearish session across the board. The KSE-100 Index fell sharply, losing 752.05 points to settle at 160,935.13 points, marking a 0.47% decline.
Internationally, Asian markets struggled to make headway on Wednesday as a bout of nerves over AI valuations held back investors ahead of an earnings update from chip titan Nvidia.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.2% overnight, notching a second straight day of losses.
Valuation jitters have knocked it more than 6% below a record peak hit late in October.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures teetered around flat in the Asia morning. Japan’s Nikkei made an unsteady 0.4% gain and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8%.
Nvidia, which sells the graphics processing units (GPUs) underpinning artificial intelligence, has been at the heart of a rally that has carried stock markets around the world to record highs and lifted any stock with even tangential links to AI.
It reports after market close in the US and is expected to deliver a 56% jump in its fiscal August-October quarter revenue to $54.92 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Simultaneously, doubts are growing that the US will cut interest rates again in December, and investors worry that US President Donald Trump’s falling approval rating could drive fiscal spending and possibly stoke inflation.
That has held back safe-haven US Treasuries from gains even as the market mood has soured. Yields did fall overnight, but only slightly, and the benchmark 10-year yield was last steady at 4.11%.
Markets are pricing about a 42% chance of a 25-basis point Federal Reserve rate cut in December, something that was priced as a near certainty a month ago.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded marginal improvement against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the currency settled at 280.66, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,029.93 million from 1,545.93 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares rose to Rs45.18 billion from Rs38.85 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 160.12 million shares, followed by Bank Makramah with 111.70 million shares, and Beco Steel Ltd with 78.67 million shares.
Shares of 484 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 194 registered an increase, 244 recorded a fall, and 46 remained unchanged.
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