After days of positive momentum, selling pressure returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 lost over 1,600 points during the trading session on Friday.
At 4:20pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 80,185.06 level, an increase of 1,654.80 points or 2.02%.
Selling pressure was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs.
Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, HBL, NBP and MCB traded in the red.
In a key development, BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, had forecasted that Pakistan is “highly likely” to witness a change of government before the next parliamentary election scheduled for 2029.
“Pakistan’s next parliamentary election is scheduled for 2029. However, it is highly likely that the country will see a change of government before this date,” stated BMI in its Pakistan Country Risk Report for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2024.
“No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office,” it noted.
The report said political risk in Pakistan will remain highly elevated in 2024 and 2025.
On Thursday, positive momentum persisted at the PSX as the benchmark KSE-100 gained 684 points to close at a fresh record high at 81,839.86.
Globally, Asian shares are set to end the week on a sour note, as uncertainty across major economies added to headwinds for investors even as the global rate easing cycle gets under way.
It has been a turbulent week in markets, with a tech sell-off sparked by deepening Sino-US trade tensions, uncertainty over US President Joe Biden’s fate in the presidential race, disappointing Chinese economic data and a lacklustre third plenum outcome casting a shadow over the global mood.
In the foreign exchange market, Tokyo’s recent bouts of intervention also kept traders on edge.
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