Selling at bourse, KSE-100 sheds over 800 points

Selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 800 points during trading on Wednesday.

The KSE-100 Index witnessed some buying in the first half, hitting an intra-day high of 171,624.45.

However, the latter part of the day saw selling pressure, pushing the index to an intra-day low of 169,790.34.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 170,190.64, down by 831.13 points or 0.49%.

“The decline was largely driven by profit-taking and cautious investor sentiment amid a lack of fresh positive triggers. Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, particularly the absence of a conclusive US-Iran peace agreement and its impact on global oil prices, further dampened market confidence,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

On the index contribution front, heavyweight scrips bore the brunt of the selling, with LUCK, UBL, MEBL, ENGROH, and HUBC collectively dragging the benchmark lower by approximately 343 points, Topline said.

In a key development, it was learnt on Tuesday that the federal government will present its budget for the financial year 2026-27 on June 10. This was stated by senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Tahira Aurangzeb.

On Tuesday, PSX closed modestly higher as improved investor sentiment, supported by declining international oil prices and encouraged select buying in key sectors, helped the benchmark index recover part of the losses recorded in the previous session.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 421.57 points, or 0.25%, to close at 171,021.77 points.

Globally, S&P 500 futures were flat and European futures slipped 0.1%, although the AI bull run pushed on unimpeded in Asia on Wednesday, where stock indexes climbed to record highs in Taiwan and Japan. South Korean markets were closed.

The US military said Iranian missile attacks on ​Bahrain, Kuwait and other regional targets were either thwarted or failed as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran made little headway.

Iran and ​the United States said last week that they had reached a tentative deal to halt the war, but ⁠the two sides have yet to sign off on anything.

SpaceX plans to raise $75 billion in a blockbuster initial public offering, according to a source ​familiar with the matter.

In the tech space, the artificial intelligence theme seems impervious to war worries, and Wall Street stock indexes eked out small gains on Tuesday, led by ‌AI.

Shares in Marvell ⁠Technology soared 32.5% to a record high after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next trillion-dollar company.

AI gains have lifted tech investor SoftBank above Toyota as Japan’s most valuable company, and on Wednesday, memory manufacturer Kioxia briefly pushed the carmaker, which topped the list for decades, into third place.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee appreciated against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local currency settled at 278.45, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 551.94 million from 550.79 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares declined to Rs23.76 billion from Rs27.44 billion in the previous session.

Treet Battery Ltd was the volume leader with 46.64 million shares, followed by Dewan Cement with 33.76 million shares, and Sitara Petroleum with 25.24 million shares.

Shares of 491 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 183 registered an increase, 267 recorded a fall, and 41 remained unchanged.