Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing nearly 3,900 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 3:25pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 110,988.45, a decrease of 3,872.23 points or 3.37%.
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.
Experts attributed the selling pressure to profit-taking.
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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