KSE-100 sheds over 300 points after volatile trading at PSX

A volatile trading session was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging both ways before closing with a loss of over 300 points on Wednesday.

After opening the session on a strong positive note, the index briefly surged to an intra-day high of 158,624.51 points, indicating early buying interest.

However, the rally proved short-lived as profit-taking and selling pressure soon emerged, and the benchmark index entered a gradual downward trajectory, slipping steadily amid persistent selling pressure.

The decline accelerated around mid-day, dragging the market to its intra-day low of 155,652.35 points.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 155,858.47, down by 318.65 points or 0.20%.

“The market largely traded in a range-bound manner throughout the session as investors remained cautious amid continued volatility in international oil prices, which kept overall sentiment mixed,” said Topline Securities, in its post-market commentary.

Major index-heavy stocks, including United Bank Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company, Meezan Bank Limited, and Mari Petroleum Company Limited, emerged as key laggards, collectively eroding approximately 634 points from the benchmark index.

On the positive side, gains in Engro Holdings Limited, Bank AL Habib Limited, and Askari Bank Limited helped provide partial support to the market, adding a combined 577 points to the index, according to the brokerage house.

On Tuesday, Pakistan’s equity market staged a powerful recovery as aggressive buying across key sectors helped the benchmark index recoup a substantial portion of the previous session’s losses, reflecting renewed investor confidence at the PSX.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 9,696.97 points, or 6.62%, to close at 156,177.12 points.

Globally, shares steadied on Wednesday following a brief retreat in oil prices, but ​markets remained anxious as contradictory signals from the US-Israeli war on Iran left investors struggling to gauge its impact on global inflation and growth.

A ‌short-lived pullback in oil came after the Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history to bring down crude prices, providing some relief to battered global stocks, while currencies and bonds were little changed.

Brent crude futures swung between gains and losses to trade 0.2% higher at $87.89 per barrel, while US crude was ​little changed at $83.47 a barrel, having initially fallen on the news.

The conflict in the Middle East kept investors nervous, as the United States and ​Israel pounded Iran in what some called the most intense airstrikes of the war, dashing some earlier hopes of an imminent ⁠end to hostilities.

Still, global stocks found some reprieve, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1.6%, while the Nikkei rose 2.1%.

South Korea’s Kospi advanced 3.2%.

U.S. stock futures also pushed higher after a mixed cash session overnight, with Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures adding 0.4% each.

EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.3%.

Markets are on edge as the Middle East conflict threatens ​to freeze global energy trade and ignite a price shock - a risk that world leaders are scrambling to address.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered a marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.35, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index declined to 441.87 million from 486.52 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares decreased to Rs24.98 billion from Rs31.22 billion in the previous session.

B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 37.71 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 37.69 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 27.35 million shares.

Shares of 477 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 216 registered an increase, 201 recorded a fall, and 60 remained unchanged.