Pakistan stock market rises by over 3,000 points on US tariffs pause

Pakistan stocks rose on Thursday on the back of relief provided by the U.S. deferring the imposition on duties on countries barring China for 90 days, which helps open the door for negotiations.

The benchmark KSE-100 index started going up immediately after opening, rising by 3,272 points or 2.9% to trade at 117,425 points around 9:33 AM.

In previous days, the stock market has been hammered — during an intraday session on Monday, it declined by more than 8,500 points. However, the inherent sentiment has been strong and it needed positive developments to revert back to its position, an analyst said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would pause many of his new tariffs for 90 days, even as he raised them further on imports from China.

Trump's sudden reversal came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on imports from dozens of trading partners. The new trade barriers have hammered markets, raised the odds of recession and prompted retaliatory responses from China and the European Union.

Trump said he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that took effect at midnight. At the same time, he said he would lower them on other countries also subject to his new targeted duties.

Moreover, Pakistan government has planned to send a high-level delegation to the United States to discuss 29% tariff that has been imposed on Pakistani products.

Economists say the 29% tariffs could bring immediate hurdles but also long-term opportunities.