Selling pressure returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) after renewed hostilities broke out between the US and Iran, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 1,200 points during the first half of the trading session on Friday.
At 12pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 171,728.22, down by 1,166.05 points or 0.67%.
“While the market hit record highs yesterday, the sudden shift in global stability has triggered a massive sell-off across all key sectors,” said Behtari Capital on Friday.
“If diplomatic channels, mediated via Pakistan, don’t signal a de-escalation by the closing bell, we may see further technical selling heading into next week,” it added.
Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, FFC, MCB, MEBL and UBL, traded in the red.
On Thursday, PSX extended its bullish momentum as investors continued buying equities on improving sentiment, although mid-session profit-taking erased a significant portion of the market’s early gains. The benchmark KSE-100 Index still managed to close firmly in positive territory, gaining 1,189.52 points or 0.69 percent to settle at 172,894.28 points.
Internationally, oil prices were higher on Friday and stocks a little bit lower as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Middle East, though many markets in Asia were still heading for stellar weekly gains as AI demand has swept up chipmakers.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.3% at $101.60 a barrel and European stock futures fell 0.7%.
The United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation had returned to normal while the US said it did not want to escalate. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire, which has more or less held for a month, was still in effect, sustaining hopes for a negotiated resolution.
Stock markets in Asia, which have been soaring thanks to gains in chipmakers and other AI-linked stocks, slipped only slightly from record highs.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asian shares outside Japan fell 0.8%, as did South Korea’s KOSPI though the latter was still headed for a weekly gain of more than 12% – the largest since 2008 – as Samsung and SK Hynix have surged.
Taiwan’s benchmark is up 6.9% this week and Japan’s Nikkei 4.5%.
This is an intraday update
