ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange turned bearish on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1400 points as investors engaged in profit-taking.
During the session, the index climbed to an intraday high of 140,331.01. At close, the benchmark index settled at 137,964.81, showing a decline of 1,415.24 points or 1.02%.
In a major development, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has left for his second visit to the United States in two weeks to finalise a trade deal with Washington, his office said.
“A final discussion on the Pakistan-US trade dialogue will take place during the visit,” the finance ministry said in a statement, adding that a trade agreement will benefit both countries.
On Tuesday, a total of 606,334,880 shares were traded as compared to 589,306,106 shares on the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at PKR 32.685 billion against PKR 34.562 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 484 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 108 of them recorded gains and 350 met losses, whereas the share price of 26 companies remained unchanged.
On Monday, PSX saw an upward trend, fueled by investor interest in cement and technology stocks ahead of the monetary policy announcement and key corporate earnings.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 172.77 points, or 0.12%, to close at 139,380.06 points
Global market trend
Global markets showed signs of caution on Tuesday, with Asian shares retreating and the euro struggling to recover from recent losses.
Investor sentiment was weighed down by concerns over the long-term effects of the US-EU trade deal, particularly the likelihood that elevated tariffs would remain in place, posing risks to both economic growth and inflation.
Initial optimism surrounding Europe’s acceptance of a 15% tariff was quickly overshadowed by the reality that it marked a significant increase from the pre-Trump era rate of just 1% to 2%.
Leaders in France and Germany voiced concerns, warning that the deal could hinder economic expansion.
These worries triggered declines in European stocks and bond yields, and put pressure on the euro.
President Donald Trump further unsettled markets by proposing a global tariff rate of 15% to 20% on all countries not engaged in trade negotiations with the US, levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Adding to global growth fears, oil prices surged after Trump issued a new ultimatum to Russia to make meaningful progress toward ending the war in Ukraine within 10 to 12 days or face tougher sanctions targeting oil exports.
As a result, investors adopted a risk-off approach. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7%, Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.8%, and Chinese blue-chip stocks dipped 0.1%.
