KARACHI: Amidst geopolitical tensions that caused an overnight 25 per cent surge in oil prices, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on Monday to witness its second-highest fall.
Due to a 5.0 per cent decline in the first five minutes of trading, the market was stopped for an hour. Following the rise in oil prices, panic selling caused the benchmark KSE-100 Index to fall 11,016 points.
The KSE-100 tumbled by 11,015.95 points or 6.99 per cent to 146,480.15 points from 157,496.1 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 150,174.1 points, while the lowest was 144,119.44 points.
Ali Najib, deputy head of trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said the PSX witnessed a sharp sell-off, marking the second-largest point-wise decline in the history of the exchange.The market opened under intense pressure following an overnight surge of nearly 25 per cent in global oil prices. Within the first five minutes of trading, the KSE-30 index dropped over 5.0 per cent, triggering a market-wide circuit breaker in accordance with PSX regulations and temporarily halting trading activity.
After trading resumed an hour later, selling pressure persisted as investor sentiment remained fragile. Concerns over rising fuel prices, elevated global crude oil rates and the potential increase in business and production costs weighed heavily on the market, prompting broad-based selling across multiple sectors.
“Looking ahead, global markets appear to be nearing a phase where much of the prevailing uncertainty has already been priced in. Any constructive developments on the Middle East front could help restore investor confidence and potentially trigger a meaningful recovery across financial markets,” he said.
The KSE-30 index plunged by 3,333.7 points, or 6.9 per cent, to 44,996.51 points from 48,330.2 points. Traded shares rose by 258 million shares to 621.653 million shares from 363.145 million shares. The trading value increased to Rs37.116 billion from Rs23.108 billion. Market capitalisation narrowed to Rs16.601 trillion against Rs17.698 trillion. Of the 480 companies active in the session, 33 closed in green, 386 in red, and 61 remained unchanged.
The highest increase was recorded in Blessed Textiles Limited, which rose by Rs32.43 to Rs356.72 per share, followed by Faisal Spinning Mills Limited, which increased by Rs25.11 to Rs290.71 per share. A significant decline was noted in Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, which fell by Rs1,371.42 to Rs23,698.33 per share. Sazgar Engineering Works Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs213.22 to Rs1,918.97 per share.
Naveed Nadeem, senior equity trader at Topline Securities, said market sentiment remained fragile as global crude oil prices surged above $110 per barrel after Iran moved to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy shipments. The development triggered strong reactions across international energy and financial markets, further weighing on investor confidence.
Index-heavy constituents, including FFC, UBL, ENGROH, HUBC and LUCK, emerged as major laggards, collectively dragging the index down by 4,497 points during the session.
K-Electric Ltd remained the volume leader with 127.469 million shares, which closed lower by 61 paisas to Rs7.2 per share. F Nat Equities with 33.608 million shares, followed it, which closed lower by 16 paisas to Rs1.15 per share.
Other significant turnover stocks included B.O. Punjab, Cnergyico PK, WorldCall Telecom, National Bank XD, Unity Foods Ltd, Pak Petroleum XD, Hascol Petrol and Pak Refinery.In the futures market, 316 companies recorded trading, with only one increasing and 315 decreasing.
