After declining in the previous session, bulls returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 137,000 level during the opening minutes of trading on Wednesday.
At 10am, the benchmark index was hovering at 137,211.31 level, an increase of 1,271.44 points or 0.94%.
Buying was led by the energy sector, including oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including ARL, MARI, HUBO, POL, SNGPL, SSGC and WAFI traded in the green.
On Tuesday, the PSX witnessed a volatile trading session succumbed to profit-taking pressure and closed in negative territory after days of extending its record-breaking rally. The KSE-100 Index ended on 135,940 points after losing 562.67 or 0.41% from the previous close of 136,502.54 points.
Internationally, Asian stock markets were under pressure on Wednesday while the dollar climbed to its firmest against the yen since early April, after US inflation suggested tariffs are pushing prices up, dampening expectations for Federal Reserve policy easing.
US Treasury yields ticked to the highest in more than a month, lifting the dollar against the yen in particular.
However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial-intelligence darling Nvidia overnight.
Data on Tuesday showed US consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, in line with forecasts, but the largest gain since January. Economists attributed the rise in prices across goods such as coffee and home furnishings to the Trump administration’s escalating import tariffs.
The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady as it has waited for indications of the inflationary impact from tariffs, which Chair Jerome Powell had said he expected in the summer.
Traders currently price in 43 basis points of rate reductions for the rest of this year, with 56.5% odds of a quarter-point cut in September.
Japan’s tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei was flat after alternating between small gains and losses, supported by both Nvidia’s fortunes and the weak yen.
Taiwan’s benchmark added 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.8%, adding to Tuesday’s 1.6% tech-driven rally.
This is an intra-day update
