After declining in the previous session, positive sentiments returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling with a gain of over 1,200 points on Tuesday.
Buying momentum persisted throughout the trading session, pushing the index to an intraday high of 139,901.77
At close, the benchmark index settled at 139,419.61, an increase of 1,202.03 points or 0.87%.
On Monday, PSX opened the new week on a volatile note. The downturn was largely attributed to investor profit-taking ahead of July’s end and cautious sentiment following a record-breaking run.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 379.78 points, or 0.27%, to close at 138,217.58 points.
Internationally, Asian share markets held their ground near a four-year peak on Tuesday, buoyed by Wall Street’s closing record high ahead of a slate of corporate earnings. At the same time, investors took stock of tariff negotiations between the US and its trading partners.
Japanese shares briefly jumped at the open before trading modestly higher, while bonds had a muted reaction as the election results were largely priced in and were not as bad as investors had feared. The yen rallied 1% on Monday, recouping some of the losses from past weeks and was last little changed at 147.46 per dollar on Tuesday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit its highest level since October 2021 in early Asian hours but was last little changed. The index is up nearly 16% this year.
Overnight, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record-high closes on Monday, lifted by Alphabet and other megacaps ahead of a burst of earnings reports this week.
Investor focus has been on tariff negotiations ahead of the August 1 deadline, with the European Union exploring a broader set of possible countermeasures against the United States.
