Selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Monday.
At 9:50am, the benchmark index was hovering at 149,361.13, down by 1,037.58 points or 0.69%.
Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including OGDC, POL, MCB, NBP and UBL, traded in the red.
During the last week, Pakistan’s stock market remained under pressure amid escalating geopolitical tensions and persistently high global oil prices.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index continued to exhibit volatility, declining by 1,309 points or 0.9% on a week-on-week basis to close at 150,398.70 points.
Internationally, oil prices rose, bonds fell, and stocks were mixed at the start of trading in Asia on Monday as US President Donald Trump vowed “hell” if Tehran does not meet his deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s repeated threats to destroy civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, if the vital waterway is not open by Tuesday, have put traders on edge for reciprocal attacks by Iran on targets in the Gulf states.
With liquidity thin, as many countries around the region observed holidays on Monday, S&P 500 e-mini futures sank 0.2%, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5%.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.2%, as South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2%.
Brent crude futures opened higher, rising 1.4% to $110.58 a barrel after members of the OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to raise its oil output quotas by 206,000 barrels per day for May.
However, the increase will exist only on paper for several major producing countries behind the Strait of Hormuz that have sustained damage to oil production facilities and transport infrastructure since the war started.
This is an intra-day update
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