The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed yet another volatile session, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed lower by more than 1,500 points amid profit-taking on Thursday.
Throughout the trading session, the KSE-100 fluctuated between highs and lows. However, strong selling pressure was observed during the final hours of trading which dragging the index to an intra-day low of 112,594.66.
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 112,638.26, a decrease of 1,510.19 points or 1.32%.
Across-the-board selling was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation.
Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, NRL, MARI, PSO, SSGC, SNGP, MCB, MEBL, NBP and UBL traded in the red.
“We think fresh positive triggers for the market are few in the near term, while uncertainties around politics are rising,” said Intermarket Securities in a note.
“Pakistan market will keep a watchful eye on the incoming US administration; some members of which have voiced concerns on Imran Khan remaining in jail,” it added.
On Wednesday, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 Index closed lower by more than 1,900 points after profit-taking in the final hours to settle at 114,148.46.
Internationally, the global bond rout that has pressured equities and boosted the safe-haven US dollar showed signs of slowing on Thursday, even as Japanese yields edged to new multi-year highs.
Selling in stocks continued though, with most Asian share indexes ticking down in early trading. The dollar was stable, while oil prices edged lower.
The greenback and US Treasury yields have gained momentum from recent signs of resilience in the economy and stickiness in inflation, which have seen market bets lowered on the amount of Federal Reserve easing this year.
Minutes of the Fed’s December policy meeting, released on Wednesday, showed officials’ concern that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs and immigration policies may prolong the fight against rising prices.
Selling in Treasuries on Wednesday accelerated after a CNN report that Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a series of universal levies on allies and adversaries.
Markets are only fully pricing in one 25-bps rate cut in 2025, and see around a 60% chance of a second.
All that has combined to make global stock market sentiment fragile, and Asian equities were mostly in the red early on Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.7%, Australia’s stock benchmark slipped 0.6%, and Taiwanese shares lost 0.2%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.61 for a gain of Re0.11 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 695.14 million from 1,099.98 million on Wednesday.
The value of shares declined to Rs24.29 billion from Rs32.47 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 195.30 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 48.68 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 35.46 million shares.
Shares of 454 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 89 registered an increase, 321 recorded a fall, while 44 remained unchanged.
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