Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 closing with a loss of nearly 2,000 points amid cautious investor sentiment on Thursday.
The market witnessed persistent selling pressure throughout the session, with the index hitting an intra-day low of 164,395.38
At close, the benchmark index settled at 164,590.41, a decrease of 1,962.86 points or 1.18%.
“The volatility was largely attributed to profit-taking ahead of the upcoming rollover week, coupled with disappointing financial results from Bank Al Habib and Bank Alfalah,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Among the major laggards, BAHL, HMB, LUCK, HUBC, and ENGRO collectively eroded 1,019 points from the benchmark index, it added.
On Wednesday, PSX witnessed a volatile and largely bearish session. The benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped by 793.56 points, or 0.47%, to settle at 166,553.28 points.
Internationally, Asian stocks fell for a second day on Thursday as lacklustre earnings reports from tech mega cap stocks deepened a selloff on Wall Street, while U.S. sanctions against Russia and China revived fears around geopolitics. Oil prices surged.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last off 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.5%.
Chinese stocks declined 0.4% in Hong Kong after Reuters reported the White House is considering a plan to curb an array of software-powered exports to China to retaliate against Beijing’s latest round of rare earth export restrictions.
S&P 500 e-mini futures edged up 0.1% after a second day of declines for U.S. stocks overnight as earnings reports from tech megacaps underwhelmed analysts on Wall Street.
Netflix shares fell more than 10% on Wednesday as the streaming giant’s outlook for the coming quarter left investors nonplussed.
Tesla shares fell 3.8% in after-hours trading after reporting profit that failed to live up to analysts’ expectations, despite record third-quarter revenue that beat estimates.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,504 million from 1,568 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs49.52 billion from Rs55.06 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 162.19 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 138.24 million shares, and Telecard Limited with 90.64 million shares.
Shares of 474 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 147 registered an increase, 291 recorded a fall, and 36 remained unchanged.
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