KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a highly volatile trading session on Thursday (October 30), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index witnessed sharp swings between gains and losses before recovering mid-session.
Trading began on a positive note, with strong investor participation driving the index up by 1,042.36 points to reach 159,507.41 around 9:34 AM, backed by an early trading volume of 7.12 million shares. However, the upward momentum quickly faded as profit-taking emerged, pulling the index down by 259.4 points to 158,205.65 within 20 minutes.
Despite the early dip, renewed buying in select sectors helped the market regain stability. By 11:09 AM, the KSE-100 index had recovered to 159,203.53 points, up 738.48 points (0.47%), with volumes surging to 117.54 million shares.
Market analysts attributed the fluctuations to cautious investor behavior following Wednesday’s selloff, combined with optimism over strong year-on-year gains and improving market liquidity.
At current levels, the KSE-100 has posted an impressive 76.33% annual growth and 38.29% year-to-date gains, showing resilience despite ongoing volatility. Over the past 52 weeks, the index has fluctuated between 88,852.68 and 169,988.62 points, reflecting strong recovery momentum.
Top Gainers:
Among active stocks, PAEL rose 3.88% to Rs49.80, HASCOL gained 4.31% to Rs16.21, and K-Electric advanced 2.76% to Rs5.59. SSML and HAEL emerged as major gainers, each soaring by 10%, while SARC, CWSM, SSOM, TSBL, ZIL, FLYNG, BNL, and SGPL also recorded near 10% rises, indicating broad-based sectoral strength.
Top Decliners:
On the losing side, FECM, KOIL, and SERT each fell 10%, followed by LSEFSL and IDSM, which dropped nearly 9.9%. POWERPS and AHTM also slipped between 8-9%, reflecting selective profit-taking amid overall market recovery.
Previous Session Recap:
The recovery followed a turbulent Wednesday session, during which the KSE-100 index dropped 1,635.97 points (1.02%) to close at 158,465.05, having swung between 160,690.12 and 158,306.84 points during the day.
Market experts expect trading to remain volatile in the short term as investors balance profit-taking with optimism over the PSX’s strong yearly performance.
