Market recovers despite early volatility and geopolitical jitters
Karachi: Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index surged 5,159.10 points on Tuesday to close at 157,132.09, staging a strong recovery after suffering the largest single-session decline in the exchange’s history a day earlier.
The 3.39 percent gain followed Monday’s dramatic fall of more than 16,000 points, which had rattled investors amid escalating regional tensions. However, trading on Tuesday began on a cautious note. The index slipped nearly 700 points into negative territory by 9:16am before regaining momentum later in the session.
According to Topline Securities, market participation improved significantly. Total traded volume reached 770 million shares, while turnover stood at Rs44.3 billion. Nevertheless, volatility persisted throughout the day, with the index swinging between an intraday low of 151,258.85 points and a high of 158,217.01.
Active stocks lead gains as sentiment shifts
K-Electric Limited led trading activity, climbing 8.81 percent to Rs7.29 on a volume of 74.4 million shares. Meanwhile, Worldcall Telecom Limited rose 8.04 percent to Rs1.21 with over 50 million shares traded. In contrast, Pak Elektron Limited fell 9.04 percent to Rs39.33 on a volume of 38.2 million shares.
The market turbulence followed the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli airstrikes, which unsettled global markets and drove oil and gas prices higher.
Despite initial panic, investors reassessed the geopolitical outlook. Topline Securities noted that sentiment shifted as traders grew confident that tensions may not escalate further, turning fear-driven selling into opportunistic buying.
