Buying returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investors seek comfort over US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause a planned attack on Iran, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 2,300 points during the opening minutes of trading on Tuesday.
At 9:35am, the benchmark index was hovering at 164,162.04, up by 2,357.02 points or 1.46%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, MEBL and UBL, traded in the green.
On Monday, PSX came under heavy selling pressure as investor sentiment remained fragile amid the absence of meaningful progress in ongoing United States-Iran negotiations, persistent geopolitical uncertainty and elevated international crude oil prices. The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 3,791.05 points, or 2.29%, to close at 161,805.02 points.
Internationally, Asian shares wobbled on Tuesday while bonds found their footing following a steep selloff after Trump decided to pause a planned attack on Iran and his claim that there was a good chance of a nuclear deal sent oil prices lower.
Trump said on Monday he had paused a planned attack against Iran to allow for negotiations to take place on a deal to end the war, after Tehran sent a new peace proposal to Washington.
He subsequently said there was a “very good chance” the U.S. could reach an agreement with Iran to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Still, investors remained cautious after being rattled in the previous session by a weekend drone strike in the United Arab Emirates.
Brent crude futures fell more than 2% to $109.41 a barrel on the back of Trump’s comments, while U.S. crude was down 1.3% to $107.25 per barrel, though both remained more than 50% above their pre-war levels.
In share markets, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.22%, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 2%.
Nasdaq futures reversed early gains to trade 0.07% lower, while S&P 500 futures lost 0.03%. In Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.4%, while FTSE futures and DAX futures edged 0.3% and 0.4% higher, respectively.
This is an intraday update
