Bulls roar back as KSE-100 recovers to close at over 800 points after early sell-off had caused market to slide by more than 1300 points

Bulls staged a comeback at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing at an increase of more than 800 points at close.

According to the PSX website, the market opened the week on a negative note as the KSE-100 Index fell 1,382 points in early trading amid broad-based selling and cautious investor sentiment, slipping to an intraday low of 182,792.39.

The recovery was led by gains in the refinery and automobile assemblers sectors, which helped offset selling pressure in other key sectors, including cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing companies, and power generation, most of which were trading in the red earlier in the session.

The market closed at 185,057.83 points, an increase of 883.35 points or 0.48%, from the previous close of 184,174.48.

The local bourse had remained under pressure for most of the previous week, weighed down by disappointment over monetary policy, geopolitical uncertainty and weaker corporate earnings. The KSE-100 Index ended the week at 184,174 points, marking a week-on-week decline of 4,992 points, or 2.6%, despite a strong rebound in the final session.

On the international front, Asian shares mostly followed Wall Street futures into the red on Monday as chaotic trading in precious metals made for ​a nervous start to a week that is packed with corporate earnings, central bank meetings and major economic data.

The jitters saw MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sink 1.7%, while South Korea shed 2.2%. Chinese blue chips were flat, with falls in gold indexes.

Japan’s Nikkei was a rare gainer, adding 0.3% as opinion polls suggested Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party was likely to score ‌a landslide victory in next week’s lower house election.

Such a victory would likely make it easier to push through aggressive stimulus policies, and ease ​political uncertainty. More debt-funded spending could pressure bonds and the yen, with Takaichi talking up the benefits of a weaker currency for exports.

It was also a busy week for earnings in Europe, with around 30% of the Euro STOXX market capitalisation due to report. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures both fell 0.6%, while FTSE futures dipped 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures lost 0.6% and Nasdaq futures ‍fell 0.9%, with about one-quarter of the S&P 500 set to report this week. Growth in S&P 500 earnings per share is running at 11% on the previous year, when consensus had been for 7%.