Selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 300 points during the opening minutes of trading on Monday.
At 9:35am, the benchmark index was hovering at 171,112.11, a decrease of 292.37 points or 0.17%.
Selling was observed in key sectors, including cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, OGDC, PPL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red.
During the previous week, Pakistan’s equity market extended its upward trajectory with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing at 171,404 points, up 0.91% week-on-week, as a surprise policy rate cut, improving external buffers, and sustained strength in banking stocks helped offset softer trading volumes and selective profit-taking.
Internationally, Asian share markets rose on Monday, tracking tech-driven gains on Wall Street, while the yen wallowed at all-time lows against the euro and Swiss franc as higher interest rates at home did nothing to deter speculative sellers.
Turnover was sparse in what is a holiday-shortened week for much of the world, but the path of least resistance was higher ahead of delayed data that is forecast to show the U.S. economy had continued to grow strongly in the third quarter.
Median forecasts tip annualised growth of 3.2%, due in part to a sharp pullback in imports after a run-up earlier in the year ahead of the introduction of tariffs.
Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1.5%, extending Friday’s bounce as a steep decline in the yen promised to boost export earnings for Japanese corporates.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3%, while South Korea jumped 1.8% on optimism over AI-related earnings.
This is an intra-day update
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