The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a volatile ride on Tuesday with the benchmark KSE-100 surpassing the 111,000 level in early morning trading before profit-taking meant stocks lost value to take the index below the 108,000 mark.
In the morning session, the benchmark index hit an intra-day high of 111,759.58, a gain of over 1,700 points.
However, by 2:40pm, the index had hit an intra-day low of 107,711.40 as investors looked to book their gains after days of intense buying.
Early-morning interest was observed in key sectors including power generation, refinery, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, fertilizer, automobile assemblers and cement.
The rally was underpinned by improving macroeconomic indicators, notably high inflows of remittances, according to market experts.
The inflow of overseas workers’ remittances into Pakistan stood at $2.92 billion in November 2024, 4.5% lower when compared to $3.05 billion in October 2024, showed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Investor interest has also recently been driven by optimism of further cuts in interest rates after a significant decrease in the inflation rate, which declined to 4.9% in November.
On Monday, PSX continued its bullish trend and hit new highest-ever levels settling at 109,970.38, an increase of 916.43 points or 0.84%.
However, experts say some level of profit-taking was expected as the index had hit record highs in recent days.
Globally, China and Hong Kong stocks surged at open on Tuesday after top policymakers vowed to ramp up policy stimulus to spur growth.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rallied 3.2% at open, while the Shanghai Composite index added 2.6%. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng jumped 3.2% at open, adding to Monday’s 2.8% gain.
The tech index surged 4.2%.
Next year, China will adopt an “appropriately loose” monetary policy, the first easing of its stance in some 14 years, alongside a more proactive fiscal policy to spur economic growth, state media Xinhua reported after-market on Monday, citing a readout of a meeting of top Communist Party officials, the Politburo.
This is an intra-day update
Source: Brecorder