KARACHI: Despite prevailing volatility triggered by the ongoing tariff war, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a spectacular recovery rally on Thursday as investors indulged in value-buying, propelling the benchmark index above 117,000 intraday.

Topline Securities Ltd said the upward trajectory was fuelled by a strong rebound in the US and other international equity markets, with the benchmark KSE index rallying as much as 3,331 points during intraday trading.

The gains were predominantly driven by standout performances from key index movers, including Hub Power, Oil and Gas Development Company, Lucky Cement, United Bank Ltd, and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, which collectively contributed 633 points to the index.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market staged a sharp recovery led by scrips across the board after Mr Trump’s U-turn delaying enforcement of tariffs.

He added that the bull run in global equities, the surge in crude oil prices, and the government hopes over success in tariff talks with the US played a catalyst role in the bullish close in the earning season at PSX.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, stated that the PSX has entered a highly volatile phase where the market fluctuates daily, influenced by the ongoing tariff war.

The index showed some recovery following the announcement by the US president on Wednesday evening declaring that a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff of a minimum of 10pc will be applied to US trading partners during the 90-day pause, excluding China.

Global equities witnessed massive rallies post this announcement and posted handsome gains in the range of 5-11pc. In addition, international oil prices recovered by 5-7pc from intraday lows.

Following its global peers, the PSX also had a positive day as the market had a grand pre-opening with a gain of over 2,900 points and then made an intraday high at 117,484, a surge of 3,331 points or 2.91pc. But, given the uncertainty, investors chose to do some profit-taking at the day’s high, forcing the benchmark index to give away some earlier gained grounds and eventually closed the business at 116,189.21, adding 2,036 points or 1.78pc day-on-day.

Trading activity remained higher, with 632.8 million shares exchanged, amounting to Rs36.9bn.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2025