PSX Falls Over 1,200 Points as KSE-100 Drops Below 169,000
KARACHI, PAKISTAN — WEB DESK: The Pakistan Stock Exchange came under significant selling pressure on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing more than 1,200 points and slipping below the 169,000 level during the trading session.
At 3:19pm, the KSE-100 stood at 168,756.18 points, down 1,213.14 points, or 0.72%, from the previous close.
Selling pressure was widespread across the market, with 328 shares declining, compared with 150 advancing, while 91 remained unchanged out of 569 securities recorded in the market summary.
Overall trading volume stood at more than 511.5 million shares, with the value of traded securities reaching approximately Rs15.57 billion. More than 294,000 trades had been recorded.
Other major indices also remained under pressure. The All Share Index declined 0.73% to 102,148.49, while the KSE-30 dropped 0.70% to 50,289.80.
Selling was particularly visible in the oil and gas segment, with the Oil and Gas Tradable Index falling 1.49%, a steeper decline than the broader market.
The KMI-30 Index also dropped 0.87%, while the PSX-KMI All Share Index was down 0.78%.
Thursday’s decline followed a positive session in which the benchmark index had gained 368.92 points to close at 169,969.33. The index had climbed as high as 171,492.53 during the previous session before late selling erased much of its advance.
Investor sentiment has remained sensitive to developments in Pakistan’s ongoing discussions with the International Monetary Fund, geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and movements in international crude oil prices.
Global oil prices rose around 2% on Thursday after China suspended fuel exports, adding fresh concerns over international energy supplies. Higher crude prices are closely watched in Pakistan because of their potential implications for the country’s import bill, inflation and external account.
With the market still open at the time of the latest official update, the KSE-100’s final closing level and full-session trading figures remained subject to change.
