After plunging over 6,500 points at the opening, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index recovered a significant portion of its losses, eventually settling with a loss of over 3,500 points on Wednesday in the wake of India-Pakistan tensions. The index had dropped sharply at the open, shedding more than 6,500 points, hitting an intra-day low of 107,007.68. At close, the benchmark index settled at 110,009.02, a decrease of 3,559.48 points or 3.13%. Across-the-board selling pressure was observed in key sectors including commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including OGDC, PPL, POL, HUBCO, SNGPL and SSGC traded in the red. “The sharp rebound of over 4,500 points reflects underlying market confidence, driven by strong economic fundamentals and expectations that tensions will de-escalate quickly after the comment by United States Secretary of State,” Waqas Ghani, Head of Research at JS Global, told Business Recorder. Meanwhile, Mohammed Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, expressed that after the latest offensive, there will be no major escalation between the two neighbours, “and dust will eventually settle down”. “Investors seem optimistic about the upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) board meeting, which will decide on the loan tranche for Pakistan,” he said.