Selling continues unabated, KSE-100 down nearly 1,000 points in early trade

Selling continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 1, 000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Tuesday. At 9: 34am, the benchmark index was hovering at 168, 507. 59, down by 989. 76 points or 0. 58%. Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, LUCK and DGKC, traded in the red. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased its policy rate by 100 basis points to 11. 50% after the monetary policy committee meeting on Monday. On Monday, PSX witnessed a volatile and bearish session on Monday as investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy announcement. The benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 169, 497. 36 points, losing 1, 174. 68 points or 0. 69%. Internationally, Asian stocks held near record ​highs and the dollar was muted on Tuesday as investors weighed the geopolitical maelstrom in the Middle East and braced for megacap earnings and ‌a slate of central bank meetings, with the Bank of Japan due later in the day. While the US was reviewing Tehran’s latest proposal to resolve the war in the Middle East, a US official said President Donald Trump was unhappy with the proposal because it did not address Iran’s nuclear program. That leaves the two-month-long conflict in a stalemate with energy and other supplies through the critical Strait of Hormuz at a standstill. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0. 12%, hovering near the record high it touched on ​Monday. The index is on course for a 17% rise in April after dropping 13. 5% in March. Japan’s Nikkei was down ⁠0. 5% after scaling a fresh record peak in the previous session. The S&P 500 eked out modest gains on Monday, poised for about 10% gain for the ​month. US stock futures were 0. 1% higher in Asian hours on Tuesday. This is an intraday update

Read full story on Business Recorder