Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing over 2,000 points, after briefly crossing 116,000 level, during intra-day trading on Wednesday.
The KSE-100 kicked off trading on a positive note hitting an intra-day high of 116,236.70.
At 2:10pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 112,747.31, a decrease of 2,113.37 points or 1.84%.
Across-the-board selling was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PRL, NRL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, ENGRO, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL traded in red.
Earlier, buying momentum was observed which came on the back of improved economic indicators and a reduction in policy rate, which has diverted liquidity to the equities.
In a key development, Pakistan’s current account posted a surplus of $729 million in November 2024 compared to a deficit of $148 million in the same month of the previous year, data released on Tuesday by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.
This was the fourth consecutive month of a current account surplus.
On Tuesday, the PSX witnessed a volatile session as the benchmark KSE-100 Index fell over 1,300 to settle at 114,860.68.
Globally, stocks stalled while the dollar drifted higher on Wednesday as investors made last-minute adjustments to portfolios in the countdown to the year’s final salvo of central bank meetings, while news of a potential Nissan-Honda tie-up lifted car stocks.
S&P 500 futures were flat in the Asia session after the index fell in US trade. European futures and FTSE futures were about 0.2% lower. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was huddled near a two-week low and had inched 0.2% higher by afternoon.
Traders have been driving up US yields and the US dollar accordingly, with benchmark 10-year yields touching one-month highs around 4.4% overnight, before settling at 4.39%.
Moves in the Asia session were small, muted by the upcoming Fed meeting and central bank meetings in Japan, Britain, Norway and Sweden on Thursday.
This is an intra-day update
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