Selling continues at bourse, KSE-100 sheds nearly 1,000 points in early trade

Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Friday. At 10am, the benchmark index was hovering at 151,912.59, down by 995.37 points or 0.65%. Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, HBL and NBP, traded in the red. On Thursday , PSX remained under intense selling pressure as persistent volatility in international oil prices and ongoing global uncertainty triggered broad-based declines across sectors. The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 152,907.97 points, falling by 5,405.48 points or 3.41%. Globally, Asian stock markets were swept up in a global ​rout on Friday, tracking Wall Street lower as the threat of a protracted energy shock out of the war-torn Middle East ‌sent borrowing costs spiralling higher. Investors took a modicum of comfort from U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to extend his ultimatum to strike Iranian power plants by 10 days, after pushing back his initial 48-hour deadline by five days. Brent crude futures fell 1% to $107.07 a barrel, having jumped nearly 6% overnight. However, movement in oil prices was small and reports ​that Trump was considering sending more troops only added to concern about the war escalating into a ground conflict, with no certainty ​that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened to shipping soon. Iran has dismissed a US proposal to end the ⁠conflict as “one-sided and unfair”. Wall Street futures bounced 0.2% in Asia. Overnight, the Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.4% to be down nearly 11% from its ​record close on October 29, confirming it has been in a correction since then. On Friday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tumbled 1.4% and was set for a ​weekly drop of 3%. Japan’s Nikkei skidded 1.3% and was down 0.9% for the week. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 3%, bringing its weekly loss to a staggering 8.5%. Chinese ‌blue chips ⁠fell 1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.4%. This is an intra-day update

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