Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) climbed by 5,878 points a few hours after it opened on Tuesday, in the wake of US President Donald Trump announcing a complete ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end a 12-day war.
Global shares rallied and the dollar extended declines as a ceasefire to end a 12-day war between Iran and Israel came into effect, while oil prices dived to nearly two-week lows on easing concerns about supply disruptions, Reuters reported.
The KSE-100 index climbed 5,878.15 points, or 5.06 per cent, to stand at an intraday high of 122,045.62 from the last close of 116,167.47 yesterday. At 11:26am, a PSX notice informed that due to a 5pc increase in the KSE-30 index from the previous trading day close of the index, a market halt had been triggered as per PSX regulations and all equity and equity-based markets have been suspended accordingly.
The market reopened after a gap of an hour at 12:31pm.
The PSX had endured a sharp sell-off on Monday, as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East — sparked by reported US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and Tehran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz — sent shockwaves through global markets, triggering panic selling and wiping out more than 3,800 points from the benchmark KSE-100 index.
The Israeli government said it had achieved all its objectives in the war with Iran, and that it had agreed to the US-proposed ceasefire after removing the “dual existential threat” of Tehran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missiles.
Israel nonetheless warned it would “respond forcefully” to any Iranian violation of the truce.
Oil prices fell 5pc after Israel agreed to the proposal.
The ceasefire agreement, as outlined by Trump on social media in a surprise late-night post, would see the arch enemies stop firing in staggered phases.
According to Trump, Iran would unilaterally halt all operations beginning 4am GMT (9am PKT) on Tuesday, with Israel following suit 12 hours later.
After Trump’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media that “as of now, there is no ‘agreement’ on ceasefire or cessation of military operations”.
However, he added that if Israel stopped “its illegal aggression”, Tehran would have “no intention to continue our response afterwards”.
Additional input from AFP.
