PSX: Selling at bourse, down nearly 500 points

Selling was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 500 points during the opening minutes of trading. At 10: 15am, the benchmark index hovered at 170, 299. 24, down 465. 98 points or 0. 27%. Key sectors saw selling, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO and HBL, traded in the red. In a key development, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad said on Sunday that Pakistan had discussed potential financing from the US Export-Import Bank (US Exim Bank) for Boeing aircraft for privatised Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), but no government loan or sovereign guarantee had been announced for the airline. During the previous week, the PSX remained cautious and range-bound, as persistent geopolitical uncertainty and shifting domestic political developments constrained investor risk appetite. The benchmark KSE-100 Index eased by 119. 37 points, or 0. 1%, to close at 170, 765. 22 points. Internationally, share markets were mostly lower on Monday as oil prices popped higher again amid doubts that the United States and Iran will reach a truce anytime soon, keeping bonds under pressure ahead of a week packed with economic news. Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, claiming Tehran was desperate to make a deal. Trump said talks would continue this week, though Iran shows no sign of watering down its proposals. A dearth of refining capacity has in turn lifted diesel prices to all-time highs far above crude, raising the risk that inflation will become embedded in pricing and wage decisions. Central banks have responded with a round of rate hikes, with the Reserve Bank of Australia likely to be the next to tighten when it meets on ⁠Tuesday. Markets now imply a 66% chance the Federal Reserve will hike for a second straight meeting in October, with around 90 basis points of tightening priced out to late next year. Japan’s Nikkei went flat, while the volatile South Korean stock market slid 2. 4%. ⁠MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0. 6%. This is an intraday update

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