Daily Times

The 100-Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining 972.94 points, a positive change of 0.83 percent, closing at 117,974.03 points as compared to 117,001.09 points on the last trading day.

A total of 544,200,130 shares were traded during the day as compared to 449,484,737 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs32.310 billion against Rs29.178 billion on the last trading day.

As many as 315 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 208 of them recorded gains and 102 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 5 companies remained unchanged.

The three top trading companies were Pak International Bulk with 52,151,863 shares at Rs11.05 per share, Pak Elektron with 36,133,139 shares at Rs48.14 per share and WorldCall Telecom with 30,884,952 shares at Rs1.40 per share.

Excide Pakistan Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs74.83 per share closing at Rs823.10 whereas runner-up was Macter International Limited with Rs36.71 rise in its share price to close at Rs403.77.

Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs82.50 per share price, closing at Rs23,400.00, whereas the runner-up was Nestle Pakistan Limited with Rs64.84 decline in its per share price to Rs7,402.33.

Experts have attributed positivity to multiple factors including progress on IMF programme and circular debt resolution.

Separately, equity markets were mixed and gold hit another record high on Wednesday as trade war worries cast a shadow and geopolitical concerns returned to the fore.

The tepid start to the day followed tech-led losses on Wall Street, while an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that Russia would stop targeting Ukrainian energy was met with a shrug.

The yen gave up initial gains against the dollar after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold, warning about the outlook amid “high uncertainties” including over trade.

Investors are also gearing up for central bank decisions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Indonesia, where stocks tanked Tuesday on concerns about Indonesia’s economy.

Fresh pledges by China to boost domestic consumption and welcome data out of the United States that eased recession worries helped Asian markets to a strong start to the week.

But Trump’s scattergun trade policies, which have seen him impose measures on some key partners but delay others, have stoked uncertainty.

While no new levies have been announced in recent days, the next key date is April 2, when sweeping reciprocal measures are due to kick in, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling Fox Business “each country will receive a number that we believe represents their tariffs”.

“We are going to go to them and say, look, here’s where we think the tariff levels are, non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, unfair funding, labour suppression,” he said on “Mornings With Maria”.

Many economists have warned that the tariffs — which are being met with retaliation by some countries — will tip the US economy, and possibly others, into recession.

With that in mind, the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, which ends later Wednesday, is being closely followed by traders hoping for an idea about officials’ plans to deal with any negative impact.