Selling pressure returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) amid escalation in the Gulf region, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 2,200 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday.
At 9:25am, the benchmark index was hovering at 152,125.79, a decrease of 2,166.46 points or 1.40%.
Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red.
On Wednesday, PSX witnessed a strong bullish session with the benchmark index posting a sharp recovery amid improved investor sentiment, supported by easing international oil prices and renewed value hunting across key sectors. The KSE-100 Index closed at 154,292.26 points, registering a significant gain of 4,276.09 points or 2.85%.
Internationally, stocks slid, and oil prices rose sharply on Thursday after a major escalation in the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran rattled investors, while the yen wobbled near the crucial 160 per dollar level as Japan’s central bank left interest rates unchanged.
As widely expected, the Bank of Japan left unchanged its short-term policy rate at 0.75% but joined the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada in striking a cautious tone about the impact of rising oil costs from the conflict on inflation.
The broader market, though, remains focused on the war in the Middle East and is realising that the conflict is shaping up to be a prolonged one, stoking stagflation risk.
Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday and retaliated by vowing attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The hits to energy infrastructure sent U.S. crude futures about 1% higher to $97.07 per barrel. Natural gas rose more than 6%, while Brent futures rose to $112.19 a barrel, up 4.5% on the day.
In stocks, Japan’s Nikkei was down 2.5%, while South Korean equities fell 1.5%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell more than 1.5%. European futures were down more than 1%.
This is an intra-day update
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