The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on Monday, with the KSE-100 Index witnessing a bullish momentum in the first half but closing the day lower by over 800 points on late-session selling.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 120,590.77.
However, selling pressure in the final hours pushed the index to an intra-day low of 118,672.84.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 118,877.81, down by 813.29 points or 0.68%.
Earlier, buying was observed in key sectors including cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks PRL, HUBCO, PSO, SNGPL, MARI, OGDC, POL and PPL traded in the green.
During the previous week, the PSX saw a mild recovery last week ended on May 30, supported by improved economic policy clarity. However, gains remained limited as investors braced for potential tax-related announcements in the upcoming Federal Budget.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 119,691 points on Friday, recording a gain of 588 points or 0.49% on a week-on-week (WoW) basis, up from 119,102.67 points at the close of the previous.
Internationally, Asian share markets and the US dollar made a soft start on Monday as US-China trade tensions continued to simmer, while investors turned defensive ahead of key US jobs data and a widely expected cut in European interest rates.
There was little obvious reaction to President Donald Trump’s threat late Friday to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50%, beginning on June 4, a sudden twist that drew the ire of European Union negotiators.
Speaking on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump would soon speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping to iron out a dispute over critical minerals.
Beijing then forcefully rejected Trump’s trade criticism, suggesting a call might be some time coming.
White House officials also continued to play down a court ruling that Trump had overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from US trading partners.
Markets will be particularly interested to see if Trump goes ahead with the 50% tariff on Wednesday, or backs off as he has done so often before.
In the meantime, caution reigned and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan went flat. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.4%, while Hong Kong dropped 2.5%.
South Korean stocks edged up 0.2% on hopes a snap presidential election on Tuesday would deliver a clear winner.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures dipped 0.2%, while FTSE futures and DAX futures were little changed.
S&P 500 futures eased 0.4% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.02% against the US dollar on Monday. At close, the local currency settled at 281.97, a gain of Re0.05 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 497.94 million from 580.32 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares increased to Rs23.45 billion from Rs22.74 billion in the previous session.
Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 40.67 million shares, followed by Invest Bank with 31.86 million shares, and K-Electric Ltd with 30.88 million shares.
Shares of 464 companies were traded on Monday, of which 193 registered an increase, 231 recorded a fall, while 40 remained unchanged.
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