Pakistan stocks record highest single-day surge in 6 months

Pakistan stocks rebounded sharply on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE 100 index gaining more than 1,300 points (3.5%) by the close of trading.

"Shrugging off concerns of rising COVID cases, the market recovered sharply today from yesterday’s sell-off to close the day at 1,368.70 level (up 3.50%)," Topline Securities analyst Haris Khan said in a note. 

"This was the highest single day increase for the past six months," he reported. "A lower than expected CPI [inflation] announcement also buoyed sentiment at the bourse." 

"Towards the end of the session, PM Imran Khan made an announcement of reduction in electricity tariff on additional consumption, which also provided further impetus," he added.

The market had slumped on Monday as the benchmark KSE 100 index lost more than 700 points to close at 39,112 points.

However, today, the index registered rapid gains, surging by 1,369 points by the end of the day to reach 40,480.88.

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More than 229 million shares changed hands, with a total worth of over Rs10.2 billion.

Stocks of 364 companies were traded, of which 298 gained in value, 56 declined, and 10 remained unchanged.

The impetus is likely to sustain over the next few days, as the government has signaled it will not be imposing a sweeping lockdown to contain the second wave of the coronavirus.