A day after massive buying, a volatile session was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing over 1,600 points during the intra-day trading on Tuesday.
The market kicked off trading on a positive note, with the KSE-100 Index hitting an intra-day high of 115,036.49.
However, investors soon resorted to profit-taking.
At 3:15pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 112,299.42, a decrease of 1,624.99 points or 1.43%.
A mixed trend was observed, with selling witnessed in key sectors including automobile, cement, chemical, commercial banks, power generation, and refineries.
Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, HBL, MCB, and NBP traded in the red, while PPL, OGDC, SNGP, PSO and SHEL traded in the green.
“The easing of political tensions, with ongoing dialogue between the government and opposition, is expected to create a conducive environment for the rally to sustain,” said Intermarket Securities in a note.
On Monday, massive buying was witnessed at the PSX as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged over 4,400 points, marking the second largest single-day increase point-wise, to settle at 113,924.41.
Globally, Asian stocks edged up on Tuesday, though moves were subdued in a holiday-curtailed week. The greenback held near a two-year high, helped by elevated U.S. Treasury yields as investors prepared for fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
After a recent run of central bank decisions, this week is much quieter, with Japan’s October meeting minutes and Australia’s December minutes released on Tuesday morning, providing more details on their decisions to hold rates at the time. There are no Fed speeches and U.S. data is of secondary importance.
Otherwise, the themes were largely the same, with the dollar’s strength as a burden for commodities and gold.
It is also a headache for emerging market countries from Brazil to Indonesia that are having to intervene to stop their currencies from falling too far and stoking domestic inflation.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, rose 0.35% early in the session, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gain.
This is an intra-day update
Source: Brecorder
