The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surged by more than 12,000 points on Wednesday after Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts paused the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.
The benchmark KSE-100 index jumped to 164,035.83 points after rising by 12362.38 points or 8.15%, up from the previous close of 151,673.45 points. The market was halted due to a 5% Increase in the KSE-30 index and will resume trading at 10:42 am.
Mediated by Pakistan, US President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said in a statement Tehran would cease counter-attacks and provide safe passage through the waterway, if attacks against it stop.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced that he has invited the leadership from both nations to Islamabad on April 10 to further negotiate a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes.
Ahfaz Mustafa, CEO of Ismail Iqbal Securities, told Geo.tv that the announcement of the ceasefire, especially due to the efforts by Pakistan, has buoyed investment sentiment to new highs.
“Oil prices have reduced 15%, and global markets, along with ours, are now recovering. We had had a sharp correction of 20–22%, and the market is starting to reduce the war/macro discount and looking forward to normalisation.”
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
