Pakistan Stock Exchange closes in red amid global tariff tensions

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed in red on Wednesday, after making a slight recovery in the last session as global stocks tumbled again as the US, China slammed higher tariff against each other, analysts said.

Although some recovery was seen in the latter half of the day, the index finally settled, falling 1,379 points or (-1.19%) closing at 114,153 level.

“Stocks fell sharply lower amid rout in global equities and slump in global crude oil prices on intensifying global trade war. Weak rupee and uncertainty over outcome of US tariff levies on Pakistan exports played a catalyst role in bearish close at PSX,” Ahsan Mehanti CEO at Arif Habib Commodities told Hum News English.

PSX remained under significant pressure today, as mounting uncertainty over potential US tariff measures reverberated across global financial markets. In line with the negative trend witnessed in international equities, the local bourse experienced heightened volatility throughout the session, Topline Securities research note stated.

In intraday trading, benchmark 100 Index plunged as low as 2,640 points, making some recovery towards the end of the session.

“Investor sentiment remained fragile as skepticism persisted around the ongoing global tariff and counter tariff tensions, keeping market participation on the edge throughout the session,” Ismail Iqbal Securities stated in their research note. 

The major drag on the index came from UBL, ENGRO, OGDC, PPL, and SYS, which collectively contributed a negative impact of 639 points.

Traded value wise MARI (Rs 3.87 billion), PSO (Rs 1.3 billion), DGKC (Rs 1.28 billion), OGDC (Rs 1.15 billion) and MLCF (Rs 1.12 billion) dominated the trading activity.

Total market participation remained robust, with a traded volume of 449 million shares and a traded value of Rs 26.6 billion, Topline Securities added.