The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed range-bound trading on Tuesday, with its benchmark KSE-100 Index swaying in both directions before closing the day flat.
Investor sentiment was buoyed by corporate results announced during today’s session, although overall activity remained subdued due to cautious trends in international markets, according to brokerage house Topline Securities.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 118,430.35, marginally higher by 46.97 points or 0.04%.
The index’s performance was largely supported by stocks such as FFC, ENGROH, HMB, AGP, and ATLH, which collectively contributed 733 points, Topline said.
On Monday, the PSX closed the first trading session of the week positive, with the KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,000 points.
Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has reassured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the country would continue the reform momentum as he met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the opening day of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings 2025, the Finance Division said.
The Pakistani authorities and the IMF team reached staff-level agreement on the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in the amount equivalent to SDR 5,320 million (or about USD 7 billion) on July 12, 2024, which was later approved by the IMF’s Executive Board in the last week of September.
Asian stock markets fought to hold their footing on Tuesday after a furious flight from U.S. assets undermined Wall Street and the dollar, while concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve piled fresh pressure on Treasuries.
Relatively limited losses in Asia sparked talk that funds could be reallocating money to equities in the area, though the impact of tariffs on economic growth remained a major drag.
President Donald Trump’s increasingly vocal attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates saw Wall Street indexes shed around 2.5% on Monday and the dollar hit three-year lows.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw slight improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the currency settled at 280.77, a gain of Re0.10 against the US dollar.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 740.87 million from 672.44 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares declined to Rs30.52 billion from Rs36.42 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 116.69 million shares, followed by Power Cement with 67.92 million shares, and Pak Int.Bulk with 58.81 million shares.
Shares of 451 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 214 registered an increase, 196 recorded a fall, while 41 remained unchanged.
