KARACHI: Cross-border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan rattled investor confidence at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), causing the benchmark KSE-100 Index to plunge over 5,000 points during intra-day trading on Monday.
The previous trading week remained negative, with the KSE-100 Index dropping by 4,500 points over the last four days, wiping out Rs600 billion in market capitalization.
Trading began negatively today as well, the first day of the new business week.
At the start of the session, the KSE-100 Index fell by 2,972 points, and during trading, the decline deepened to 5,028 points, bringing the index down to 158,069 — a drop of nearly 3%.
Selling pressure was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL and UBL, traded in the red.
At least 23 Pakistani soldiers were martyred and over 200 militants killed in intense overnight clashes along the Pak-Afghan border, following the unprovoked attack launched from Afghan territory, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the military’s media wing, the fighting broke out late Saturday night after an unprovoked offensive by Afghan Taliban fighters and affiliated militant groups, including the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
