The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a dramatic turnaround on Monday as bullish sentiment returned, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index recovering strongly to close 883.35 points higher after sliding 1,382 points in early trade. The local bourse opened the session under pressure, hitting an intraday low of 182,792.39 points amid broad-based selling and cautious investor sentiment, but staged a strong rebound in the second half of the session to finish at 185,057.83 points.
The recovery was primarily driven by gains in the refinery and automobile assemblers sectors, which helped offset early losses across cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing, and power generation companies. Analysts noted that the resilience in key sectors reflected renewed investor confidence and bargain-hunting activity after a week of declines.
Last week, the KSE-100 Index ended at 184,174 points, recording a week-on-week drop of 4,992 points, or 2.6%, amid investor disappointment over monetary policy decisions, geopolitical uncertainties, and weaker corporate earnings. Despite the initial setbacks in Monday’s session, the market’s ability to stage a recovery highlighted the underlying support in select blue-chip stocks and resilient market fundamentals.
Globally, investor sentiment remained cautious as Asian markets largely followed Wall Street futures into negative territory. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7%, while South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 2.2%. Chinese blue chips remained largely flat, with declines in gold-related indexes, reflecting volatility in commodity markets. Japan’s Nikkei, however, gained 0.3% as polls suggested that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party could achieve a landslide victory in next week’s lower house elections. Market participants noted that such a result could facilitate aggressive stimulus policies and ease political uncertainty, potentially affecting bonds, the yen, and export-oriented sectors.
In Europe, investors prepared for a busy week of earnings, with approximately 30% of the Euro STOXX market capitalization scheduled to report results. Futures for the EURO STOXX 50 and DAX indices declined 0.6%, while FTSE futures edged down 0.1%. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures lost 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures fell 0.9%, ahead of a week where roughly one-quarter of S&P 500 constituents are set to report earnings. Analysts highlighted that S&P 500 earnings per share growth is running at 11% year-on-year, above the consensus estimate of 7%, indicating stronger-than-expected corporate performance despite global uncertainties.
Market observers indicated that the KSE-100’s recovery was a result of strong sectoral support, improved investor sentiment, and short-covering activity. The rebound reinforced the notion that selective equities remain resilient and could attract further interest in the coming sessions, even amid mixed domestic and international cues.
Monday’s session underscored the market’s volatility and the impact of sector-specific movements, geopolitical developments, and global financial trends on trading activity. As Pakistan’s equity market navigates these dynamics, investor focus remains on corporate earnings, policy updates, and regional and global economic developments that could influence market direction in the near term.
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