Positive sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 300 points to cross the 118,000 level during the opening hours of trading on Thursday. At 9:30am, the benchmark KSE-100 Index was hovering at 118,106.31 level, an increase of 334 points or 0.28%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including commercial banks, fertilizer, power generation, and oil and gas exploration companies. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, POL, HBL, MCB, UBL, KOHC, and LUCK, traded in the green. On Wednesday, bullish momentum dominated the PSX as investors rejoiced over Pakistan’s successful staff-level deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which pushed the benchmark KSE-100 Index to close with a gain of nearly 1,140 points. Internationally, Asian shares skidded with Wall Street on Thursday while the dollar hovered near a three-week high after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on all auto imports, ratcheting up a global trade war that risks fuelling inflation. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.2%, led by heavy losses in automakers. Asian stocks rise on easing tariff worries; dollar perks up Toyota Motor shares tumbled 3.4%, and both Mazda Motor and Subaru plunged about 6%. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 0.7%. Japanese and South Korean automakers have a big presence in the US market. Shares of Chinese EV makers also fell, with Nio down 2.8% and Xpeng 1.1% lower. China’s blue chip index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were both down 0.3%. Trump late on Wednesday announced plans for long-promised 25% tariffs on automotive imports that are set to go into effect on April 2. However, he said planned reciprocal tariffs on all countries will be “lenient”. On China, he said he may give Beijing some reduction in tariffs to get a deal done to sell TikTok. Nasdaq futures dropped 0.2% and S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% in Asia. Wall Street already ended sharply lower on expectations of such a move, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumping more than 2% on Wednesday. This is an intra-day update