Bulls continued to make further inroads at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 800 points during the opening minutes of trading on Tuesday.
At 9:35am, the benchmark index was hovering at 171,513.01, a gain of 771.67 points or 0.45%.
Buying interest was observed across the board in key sectors, including automobile assembler, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, ARL, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, SNGP and SSGC, traded in the green.
Investors rejoice after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, in a surprise move, cut the policy rate by 50 bps to support sustainable economic growth.
This move was unexpected, as most market analysts had expected a status quo. However, to reinforce ongoing price stability, the Committee, in its meeting held on Monday at the SBP head office, decided to lower the policy rate to 10.5%, effective from December 16, 2025.
On Monday, PSX witnessed a positive session with the benchmark index closing at a new all-time high amid sustained investor confidence and an improving market outlook. The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 876.82 points, or 0.52%, to close at 170,741.35 points.
Globally, Asian stocks tumbled while the dollar drifted near two-month lows on Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of a slate of US data, including the jobs report, that may help gauge the trajectory for Federal Reserve policy next year.
The defensive mood kept risk assets under pressure, including bitcoin, which hit a two-week low in the previous session and was steady at $86,407.53.
Safe-haven gold flirted with eight-week highs and bought $4,307.69 per ounce, up 0.15% on the day.
On top of the combined US employment reports for October and November due later on Tuesday, investors are also watching out for the inflation report on Thursday, although several key details will be missing after the longest government shutdown in history prevented data collection.
In equity markets, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1% in early trading. Tokyo’s Nikkei and South Korea’s benchmark index both fell over 1%. Nasdaq futures and European futures fell 0.5%, pointing to wobbles at the open.
This is an intra-day update
