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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