PSX rally falters with near 1600-point plunge as economic uncertainty returns

KSE-100 retreats amid widespread selling pressure

KARACHI:

After several sessions of upward momentum, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a sharp reversal on Wednesday as renewed selling wiped out gains and the benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by nearly 1,600 points, reflecting widespread selling across key sectors.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 187,033.27, with a decrease of 1,588.52 points or 0.84%.

Trading opened on a relatively steady note, with the index briefly edging higher and touching an intra-day peak of 189,523.43. The optimism, however, proved short-lived. Persistent selling dominated most of the session, erasing early advances while pressure intensified towards the close, dragging the index down to an intra-day low of 186,626.85.

Investor sentiment remained fragile, with participants adopting a cautious stance amid a volatile trading environment. Uncertainty over macroeconomic conditions, fiscal measures, and the direction of key policy decisions dominated market behaviour, prompting investors to trim positions and limit exposure, which further weighed on overall sentiment as the session progressed.

KTrade Securities equity trader Ahmed Sheraz commented that PSX witnessed profit-taking during the session.

He said selling pressure emerged primarily driven by institutional activity as investors moved to lock in recent gains ahead of next week’s monetary policy announcement while overall market participation remained healthy, with KSE-100 volumes recorded at 703 million shares.

Heavyweight stocks remained under pressure with Meezan Bank, Engro Holdings, MCB Bank, Habib Bank, Systems Limited, United Bank and Pakistan State Oil closing in the red.

The selling trend reflected broad-based profit-taking rather than stock-specific weakness, Sheraz added.

On a sectoral basis, commercial banks, investment banks and technology stocks underperformed, contributing to the overall negative sentiment. Given the upcoming futures rollover and the monetary policy decision scheduled for Monday, Sheraz expected the sentiment to remain range-bound in the coming sessions, with next week likely to determine the near-term direction.

Overall trading volume increased to 1.32 billion shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 1.22b while shares of 488 companies were traded. Of these, 118 closed higher, 331 dropped and 39 remained unchanged.

K-Electric led the volume chart with trading in 263.3m shares, gaining Rs0.26 to close at Rs7.01. It was followed by Hascol Petroleum with 100.8m shares, rising Rs0.58 to close at Rs28.05 and Fauji Foods with 75m shares, climbing Rs0.67 to close at Rs23.17.