PSX rallies amid higher earnings, political stability

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a robust performance on Tuesday, closing with significant gains as local investors showed strong interest, bolstered by institutional backing.

The benchmark KSE-100 index climbed 578.96 points, or 0.68 per cent, to settle at 85,840.34 points, after touching the intra-day high of 85,893.99 points. The session’s upbeat momentum was primarily driven by favourable earnings forecasts and improved investor sentiment. Easing political tensions and renewed diplomatic engagements during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit also lent positivity to the index.

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The gains came later in the day. Earlier in the morning, trading showed a cautious tone, with the index dipping to 84,856.21 points, reflecting the uncertainty from the prior session. However, optimism quickly returned, supported by political stability after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) called off protests. The rupee also showed signs of stabilization after discussions regarding the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) resumed.

The trading volume declined to 422.1 million shares, from 477.6 million shares traded on Monday. Despite that the total value of shares exchanged increased to Rs 24.47 billion from Rs 23.47 billion a day earlier.

While domestic investors remained active, foreign investors continued their trend of offloading shares, pulling out Rs 379.6 million from the local equity market.

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Sector-wise, fertilizer, energy, automobiles and telecommunications sectors added to the market gains, while the cement sector showed decline.

The positive sentiment has continued to Wednesday with the index posting nearly 500 points gains minutes into trading. Around 10 AM, the index looked like this: