The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed mixed trading on Wednesday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions before closing the day marginally higher by 162 points.
The KSE-100 started the day with a negative momentum, hitting an intra-day low of 81,529.45.
However, the bulls soon took the driving seat and pushed the index to an intra-day high of 82,360.29, followed by some late-session selling that trimmed the earlier gains.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 81,967.01, up by 162.41 points or 0.20%.
“The session saw significant volatility, peaking at 82,360 and dipping to 81,529, largely due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
The index was primarily driven by UBL, FFC, MCB, ENGRO, and PKGP, which together contributed 270 points, it added.
Iran said early Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was over barring further provocation, while Israel and the US promised to retaliate against Tehran as fears of a wider war intensified.
Washington said it would work with longtime ally Israel to make sure Iran faced “severe consequences” for Tuesday’s attack, which Israel said involved more than 180 ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened marginally to $5.4 billion during the first three months of fiscal year 2024-25 (3MFY25), data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Wednesday.
The country’s trade balance, gap between exports and imports, was recorded at a deficit of $5.44 billion in July to September period of 2024-25 as compared to $5.21 billion in the same period of the previous year, an increase of 4.2%.
On Tuesday, buying momentum was seen at the PSX as the KSE-100 closed the day higher by 690 points amid expectations of a further cut in the policy rate.
Globally, Asia stocks sank on Wednesday, catching up with the sell-off on Wall Street after Iran’s ballistic missile strike on Israel provoked fears of a wider regional conflict, while crude oil pushed higher on the risk of supply disruptions.
Investors flocked to safer assets, pushing US Treasury bond yields down in Asian time, while gold hovered near an all-time high.
The safe-haven dollar traded close to its strongest in three weeks versus the euro.
Macroeconomics also buoyed the dollar, with a resilient US job market arguing for a smaller Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in November, and euro zone inflation trends backing a European Central Bank easing this month.
Japan’s Nikkei slumped 1.5% as of 0022 GMT, while South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 1.3% and Australia’s benchmark lost 0.3%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares slipped about 0.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng had yet to open after a holiday on Tuesday.
Mainland Chinese markets are shut for the week-long Golden Week holiday.
Trading in Taiwan was suspended due to a typhoon. US S&P 500 stock index futures weakened 0.16%, after the cash index lost 0.9% overnight.
The Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar on Wednesday, appreciating 0.02% in the inter-bank market. At close, the currency settled at 277.64, a gain of Re0.05 against the US dollar.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 360.99 million from 359.08 million on Tuesday.
However, the value of shares declined to Rs15.39 billion from Rs17.16 billion in the previous session.
Agha Steel Industries was the volume leader with 30.83 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 26.47 million shares, and Fauji Cement with 20.04 million shares.
Shares of 448 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 164 registered an increase, 221 recorded a fall, while 63 remained unchanged.
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