The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed range-bound trading on Wednesday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions before closing the day marginally lower.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day of 113,436.72.
However, the index saw some volatility in the latter hours, which pushed the index to an intra-day low of 112,621.14.
At close, followed by some late-session buying, the index settled at 112,924.94, down by 85.44 points or 0.08%.
“Investor sentiment remained mixed following the latest MSCI review, where ABOT and SEARL were included in the MSCI Frontier Market Index, while BFBIO, BIFO, and Power Cement were added to the MSCI Frontier Market Small Cap Index,” brokerage house Topline Securities said.
“However, the review fell short of market expectations, leading to subdued activity,” it added.
The uptick was largely driven from PPL, BOP, PTC, AKBL, and MLCF, which collectively contributed 202 points to the index and on the flipside HBL, HUBC, MTL, BAFL, MARI and NBP which collectively subtracted 220 points from the index, Topline said.
On Tuesday, positive momentum persisted at the PSX for the second consecutive session in the week, with the KSE-100 closing the day with a gain of 1,632 points at 113,010.38.
Globally, stocks rose and US Treasury yields firmed on Wednesday as investors assessed the latest US tariff salvo along with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s signal of a patient path for rate cuts.
Financial markets were largely biding time ahead of a reading on US consumer prices due later in the day which could guide the outlook for monetary policy there, particularly as policymakers weigh the potential inflationary impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on the economy.
The US President on Monday raised tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to 25% from the previous 10%, eliminated country exceptions, as well as product-specific exclusions, and promised to announce global reciprocal tariffs within days.
Mexico, Canada and the European Union on Tuesday condemned the move, with the EU saying the 27-nation bloc would take “firm and proportionate countermeasures”.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.32%, following a mixed session on Wall Street as gains in Coca-Cola and Apple offset losses in Tesla.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the currency settled at 279.26 for a loss of Re0.09 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 669.60 million from 486.94 million recorded in the previous close.
However, the value of shares declined to Rs27.90 billion from Rs30.38 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 195.54 million shares, followed by Bank Makramah with 46.59 million shares, and P.T.C.L. with 30.23 million shares.
Shares of 441 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 172 registered an increase, 211 recorded a fall, while 58 remained unchanged.