KARACHI (Dunya News/Reuters) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened with modest gains on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious amid rising tensions in the Middle East. The cautious sentiment followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that military action against Iran might still be necessary, just a day after he postponed an imminent strike to allow for further negotiations with Tehran.
The KSE-100 index gained 519.67 points to reach 163,416.35, reflecting a positive change of 0.32 percent compared to previous close of 162,896.68 points.
A day earlier, the stock market turned bullish on Tuesday, gaining 1,091.66 points, a positive change of 0.67 percent, closing at 162,896.68 points against 161,805.02 points on the last trading day, according to PSX data.
During the session, the ready market recorded a trading volume of 391.935 million shares with a traded value of Rs 22.975 billion, compared to 499.795 million shares valuing Rs 19.438 billion in the previous session. The market capitalization increased to Rs 18.081 trillion from Rs 17.990 trillion a day earlier.
Out of 480 active companies in the ready market, 262 advanced, 171 declined, and 47 remained unchanged.
On the other hand, Asian stocks fell for a fourth straight session on Wednesday as war-driven inflation fears hammered bonds, while investors awaited earnings from Nvidia to see whether the world's most valuable company might help markets navigate higher borrowing costs.
The sell-off in global bond markets persisted overnight as investors ramped up bets that the Federal Reserve may need to increase interest rates this year. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hit a 16-month high of 4.687% overnight, while the 30-year yield climbed to 5.198%, levels not seen since 2007.