Daily Times

The 100-Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with witnessed bullish trend on Tuesday, gaining 861.00 points, a positive change of 0.91 percent, closing all time high at 95,856.67 points as compared to 94,995.67 points on the last trading day.

A total of 830,931,008 shares were traded during the day as compared to 765,206,618 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 30.019 billion against Rs. 23.924 billion on the last trading day.

As many as 460 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 249 of them recorded gains and 156 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 55 companies remained unchanged. The three top trading companies were Hascol Petrol with 60,058,856 shares at Rs 10.24 per share, K-Electric Limited with 44,488,839 shares at Rs 5.24 per share and Cnergyico PK with 42,303,494 shares at Rs.4.64 per share.

Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs.120.10 per share price, closing at Rs 8,004.60, whereas the runner-up was Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited with Rs 70.20 rise in its per share price to Rs 1,070.86. PIA Holding Company Limited B witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 59.37 per share closing at Rs 840.61 followed by Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited with Rs 32.50 decline to close at Rs 19,117.50. Separately, Asian markets rose Tuesday after a broadly positive day on Wall Street, with focus turning to the upcoming release of tech giant Nvidia’s earnings, while traders also kept tabs on Donald Trump’s picks for his new administration.

Hong Kong and Shanghai were among the better performers in early action on hopes that China will unveil more stimulus after a raft of measures at the end of September aimed at kickstarting the economy, with an eye on the property sector.

Equities have seen big swings since Trump’s election at the start of the month, with optimism over pledged tax cuts and deregulation offset by worries they could also reignite inflation, along with threatened import tariffs.

That has also given a headache to policymakers at the Federal Reserve who are still fighting to bring prices under control, with market-watchers saying investors are scaling back their bets on how many more interest rate cuts they will announce.

There is also a fear that his second term will see another debilitating trade war with China just as Beijing battles against slowing growth, persistently low inflation or deflation, and stunted consumer confidence.

Still, an advance for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, helped by an easing of US Treasury yields, provided a boost after a tough run last week. Hong Kong extended Monday’s gains and Shanghai bounced back on hopes China will push more support for the economy.

Tokyo also recovered from a soft start to the week, while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei, Wellington and Manila also gained.

With few macroeconomic catalysts to drive business this week, the main story is Nvidia’s earnings, which is being seen as a key guide to the health of an AI-fuelled surge in tech firms this year that has helped push markets to record highs.

“With its towering presence in both market cap and artificial intelligence, Nvidia has become the ultimate market heavyweight,” said independent analyst Stephen Innes.

After surging almost 800 percent over the past year “its results are set to either crown AI as the undisputed king or trigger a dramatic rethinking of the sector’s sky-high valuations”.

“Nvidia’s results will likely steer broader tech market sentiment, underscoring its pivotal role as a bellwether for tech and AI-related stocks.”