KSE-100 rises over 100 points in early trade

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed range-bound trading on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 100 points during the opening hours of the trading session.

At 10:25am, the benchmark index was hovering at 112,142.55 level, an increase of 155.67 points or 0.14%.

Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer, power generation and refineries. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, NRL, PRL, OGDC, PPL, MCB and MEBL traded in the green.

In a key development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission began talks with Pakistani authorities on the first review of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme on Monday.

Official sources in the Finance Ministry told media that the nine-member IMF mission led by Nathan Porter met government economic team led by Secretary Finance on Monday. The mission will stay in the country for around two weeks.

As per the report, in the first phase, negotiations will focus on technical aspects, followed by policy-level talks in the second phase. Sources revealed that the budget for 2025-26, currently in the process of being formulated, will be reviewed.

Talks will evaluate Pakistan’s economic performance from July to December 2024. A successful review would unlock the next $1 billion tranche.

On Monday, selling pressure persisted at the PSX, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing nearly 1,300 points to settle below the 112,000 level.

Globally, stocks slumped and bond yields slid on Tuesday in Asia as investors braced for an imminent escalation in a global trade war with new US tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China set to go into effect within hours.

Tech stocks suffered particular selling pressure, pushing Japan’s Nikkei down 2.2% and Taiwan’s benchmark down 1.3%.

Asia shares in tense wait for tariff news, bitcoin surges

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.8%, with a sub-index of tech shares tumbling 2.9%. The mainland blue chips tab lost 0.7%.

Asian equities tracked the biggest losses on Wall Street this year from overnight, with the S&P 500 sliding 1.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping 2.6%.

However, US futures pointed about 0.1% higher, signalling the sell-off may peter out later in the global day.

Europe looked headed for a lower open though, with STOXX 50 futures sliding 1%.