The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a strong recovery on Tuesday, as investors reacted positively to signals from US President Donald Trump that the Middle East war may soon wind down.
The KSE-100 Index settled at 156,177.12 points, up 9,696.98 points, or 6.62%, from the previous close of 146,480.14, marking its second-highest single-day increase.
During the session, the index climbed to an intraday high of 158,354.12 (up 11,873.98 points, or 8.12%) and fell to a low of 155,294.65 (up 8,814.51 points, or 6.02%).
“Market is rebounding due to lower oil prices and improving sentiment in regional markets,” Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company, told Thenews.pk.
Topline CEO Mohammad Sohail told Thenews.pk that a sharp decline in global oil prices has prompted investors to aggressively buy local stocks.
Trading at the PSX was temporarily suspended after the benchmark KSE-30 Index declined by more than 5% from the previous day’s close, triggering a market-wide circuit breaker.
Trading was briefly halted under PSX risk-management rules after a sharp drop, with the exchange’s notice stating that the halt was triggered due to a 5% decrease in the KSE-30 Index, suspending all equity-based markets.
The exchange’s notice noted that outstanding orders were cancelled automatically and set out the re-opening schedule (Market Halt Time 09:22am; Pre-Open 10:22am; Open 10:27am).
The index indicated at 155,783.89 (up 9,303.75 points, or 6.35%) when trading was temporarily suspended.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday after hitting an over three-year high in the prior session, after Trump’s prediction eased concerns about prolonged disruptions to global oil supplies.
Brent futures LCOc1 fell $4.17, or 4.2%, to $94.79 a barrel at 0345 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down $3.81, or 4%, to $90.96 a barrel. Both the contracts fell as much as 11% earlier before paring some losses.
Oil surged past $100 a barrel on Mondayto hit their highest since mid-2022, as supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and other producers during the expanding US-Israeli war with Iran stoked fears of major disruptions to global supplies.
Prices later retreated after Russian President Vladimir Putin held a call with Trump and shared proposals aimed at a quick settlement to the Iran war, according to a Kremlin aide, easing concerns about a prolonged supply disruption.
Trump said on Monday in a CBS News interview that he thinks the war against Iran "is very complete" and that Washington was "very far ahead" of his initial four- to five-week estimated timeframe.
Asian stock markets also rallied, with South Korea’s benchmark Kospi up more than 5% and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo 2.9%. There were also advances in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta.
That came after all three main indexes on Wall Street ended sharply higher, having reversed early heavy selling, though futures slipped Tuesday.
