Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a loss of over 1,100 points on Thursday.
The index opened on a strong note, touching an intra-day high of 183,717.53 during early trading. However, the momentum remained short-lived as persistent selling was observed throughout the day, pushing the index steadily lower.
A brief recovery attempt was visible in the early afternoon; however, it failed to sustain, and the index drifted lower again, hitting an intra-day low of 180,783.62.
At close, the market settled at 181,456.33, registering a decrease of 1,113.48 points or 0.61%.
Pakistan government and SC Financial Technologies LLC, an affiliate of World Liberty Financial USA (WLF), on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to foster collaboration on next-generation digital payment systems and cross-border financial innovations.
WLF is the main crypto business of the family of US President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s equity market remained under pressure as persistent geopolitical uncertainty and cautious investor positioning kept benchmark indices in the red, extending the ongoing consolidation phase. The KSE-100 Index closed at 182,569.82 points, down 1,381.69 points, or 0.75%.
Internationally, oil prices retreated from multi-month highs on Thursday and safe-haven gold eased back from a record peak after US President Donald Trump calmed market anxiety about potential US military action against Iran.
A selloff in tech stocks extended into Asian trading, after further declines on Wall Street as investors rotated out of high-flying chip- and artificial intelligence-related names, looking for bargains in other parts of the market.
Trump said on Wednesday afternoon that he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding and he believed there was currently no plan for large-scale executions.
Stocks in Asia were mixed, but tech shares encountered more selling.
In Japan, the tech-heavy Nikkei eased 0.9% after hitting an all-time peak in the previous session, but the broader Topix extended its own record high on Thursday with a 0.4% advance.
Taiwan’s TAIEX sank 0.5%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.4%, with tech shares weighing.
Mainland Chinese blue chips were flat, while South Korea’s KOSPIadded 0.3% to a fresh record high.
S&P 500 E-mini futures were off 0.1%, after the cash index sank 0.5% overnight. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dropped 1%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee inched up against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.96, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 820.04 million from 1,034.1 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs45.98 billion from Rs65.96 billion in the previous session.
Hascol Petrol was the volume leader with 62.65 million shares, followed by Media Times Ltd with 43.66 million shares, and Nishat ChunPower with 36.69 million shares.
Shares of 482 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 150 registered an increase, 289 recorded a fall, and 43 remained unchanged.
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