The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has experienced a surge in buying activity on Wednesday, driven by investor optimism surrounding the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The benchmark KSE-100 Index rose by over 600 points during the early trading hours.

By 10:40 AM, the index was at 86,467.75, marking an increase of 627.41 points or 0.73%. Key sectors such as automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, and oil and gas exploration companies saw significant buying activity. Major stocks, including OGDC, PPL, PSO, HUBCO, and HBL, were all trading positively.

The two-day Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting of SCO member states began on Tuesday, attended by seven prime ministers, a vice president, a foreign minister, and other senior officials. Notably, India’s Minister for External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, arrived in Pakistan for the summit, marking the first visit by an Indian official to the country in nearly a decade.

On Tuesday, the KSE-100 closed at 85,840.34, up by 578.96 points or 0.68%.

However, globally, Asian markets faced declines on Wednesday, influenced by disappointing earnings from ASML, Europe’s largest tech firm, which negatively impacted chip stocks worldwide. Additionally, lackluster earnings from French luxury brand LVMH raised concerns about demand in China, dampening enthusiasm driven by recent stimulus measures.

South Korean tech stocks fell by 0.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped by 1.8%, led by declines in chip stocks. Taiwan’s market also experienced a 1.2% decrease, resulting in MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling by 0.32%.

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