Selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index registering a loss of over 200 points during the opening hours of trading on Monday.
At 9:45am, the benchmark index was hovering at 118,238.61 level, a decrease of 203.56 points or 0.17%.
Selling was seen in key sectors including oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refineries, automobile assemblers and fertilizer. Index-heavy stocks including EFERT, INDU, MARI, OGDC, PPL and PSO traded in the red.
The PSX maintained a jubilant streak throughout the previous week, closing at an all-time high. This surge was driven by optimism surrounding a potential staff-level agreement for the release of the second EFF tranche, valued at $1 billion.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged 2,906 points, or 2.5%, every week, closing at 118,442.18 points compared to 115,536.17 points in the previous week.
Internationally, financial markets made a mixed start on Monday with US stock futures rising but the dollar wavering ahead of a week driven by data, Chinese earnings and the threat of steep US tariff hikes on the horizon.
S&P 500 futures were up about 0.6% in the Asia morning and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed about 0.2%.
The week holds global purchasing managers index gauges, the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation reading, inflation data in Australia and Japan, a budget update in Britain and major earnings in China.
But it is likely to be updates on US President Donald Trump’s plans for global reciprocal tariffs from April 2 that drive markets, and after a volatile month for stocks, bonds and currencies, analysts said there is no obvious trade ahead.
Trump has vowed to impose a complicated barrage of tariffs next week, the details of which are not clear save that they are to be calculated to reflect the impact of foreign tariffs and foreign value-added taxes on imports.
The S&P 500 eked out a gain on Friday after Trump hinted at flexibility. However, after a rollercoaster first two months in power – including tariff hits on China, Mexico and Canada – traders are shy of betting that Trump is ready to cut deals.
Ten-year US Treasury yields have fallen nearly 40 basis points from mid-February highs and were last steady at 4.27% and investors have been drawn abroad from US stocks, with sharp rallies in Hong Kong and Europe as Wall Street fell.
This is an intra-day update
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