The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday experienced a sharp downturn, marking a clear reversal in sentiment after a four-day rally. Investor confidence waned as macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties came back into focus, prompting a shift towards caution and profit-taking.
Despite a positive start, early optimism quickly gave way to broad-based selling across key sectors. The decline followed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank downgrading Pakistan's GDP growth forecast and increased anxiety over currency weakness, political instability and regional unrest.
The KSE-100 index hit the intra-day high of 118,811 points before profit-taking pulled it down to the intra-day low of 117,120. At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a substantial decrease of 1,204.21 points, or 1.02%, and settled at 117,226.15.
According to Arif Habib Corp MD Ahsan Mehanti, stocks closed sharply lower after the IMF slashed Pakistan's FY25 GDP growth forecast to 2.6% amid the Trump tariff blow.
"Fitch Ratings' outlook of a weakening rupee, political noise and fears of fallout from the unrest in Indian-occupied Kashmir resulted in a bearish close at the PSX," he added.
Topline Securities wrote in its commentary that after four consecutive bullish sessions, bears returned to the PSX on Wednesday as the index witnessed heightened volatility, plunging 1,309 points intra-day and closing down 1,204 points at 117,226.
It attributed the reversal in sentiment largely to escalating geopolitical tensions, which prompted investors to adopt a cautious stance and lock in recent gains. The downward trajectory was significantly influenced by negative contributions from key stocks, including banks and energy companies, which dragged the index down by 526 points, Topline noted.
Arif Habib Limited (AHL), in its review, wrote that the "Tariff Gap" capped gains, pushing the price below a key pivot. Market breadth was weak with 73 shares down and 21 up.
Top gainers included National Foods (+9.37%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+0.51%), and MCB Bank (+0.42%). In contrast, United Bank (-2.13%), Hub Power (-2.52%) and Mari Petroleum (-1.62%) dragged the index down.
In a significant development, Maple Leaf Cement beat expectations by announcing 9MFY25 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs7.51 (+46% YoY), while MCB Bank's 1QCY25 results were in line with expectations. The bias remained negative with the market rejecting the "Tariff Gap", AHL added.
KTrade Securities wrote in its market wrap that stocks closed on a downbeat note, with the KSE-100 index falling 1.02%. Ongoing border tensions dented market sentiment, leading to a sell-off across the board.
Besides, according to KTrade, the result season has begun and stock-specific activity is being seen, but the overall market sentiment remains bearish.
Bank, power, and oil and gas sectors were the top contributors to the index's decrease, with United Bank, Hub Power, Mari Petroleum, Engro Holdings, and HabibMetro losing the most points, it added.
JS Global analyst Muhammad Hasan Ather said the index saw a significant decline of 1,204 points mainly due to heightened investor uncertainty, a modest rise in the dollar, and the broader impact of global financial instability.
Overall trading volumes decreased to 605.2 million shares as compared with Tuesday's tally of 740.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs27.8 billion. Shares of 457 companies were traded. Of these, 127 stocks closed higher, 276 fell, and 54 remained unchanged.
The Bank of Punjab topped the volume with 58.5 million shares traded, falling Rs0.41 to close at Rs10.04. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 33 million shares, losing Rs0.02 to close at Rs1.33 and Power Cement with 29.6 million shares, dipping Rs0.06 to close at Rs14.20. During the day, foreign investors bought shares worth Rs242 million, the National Clearing Company reported.
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