The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another volatile session on Thursday amid a tense geopolitical situation, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging sharply between gains and losses before ending the session marginally lower.
The market opened on a positive note, and the index surged to an intraday high of 182,276.81, reflecting strong buying interest.
However, the momentum quickly faded as profit-taking emerged, dragging the benchmark to an intraday low of 179,411.35 during late morning trade.
The market later staged a gradual recovery, with sustained buying in select heavyweight stocks.
Despite the recovery, the KSE-100 settled at 181,259.67, down 369.69 points, or 0.20%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected Pakistan’s economy to grow by 3.5% in fiscal year 2026-27, falling short by 0.5 percentage points of the government’s 4% growth target.
In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, released on Wednesday, the IMF also maintained its 3.6% GDP growth forecast for fiscal year 2025-26.
On Thursday, PSX suffered one of its steepest single-day declines as renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East sparked widespread panic selling, with investors rushing to reduce exposure after fresh US strikes on Iran and escalating concerns over a broader regional conflict pushed international oil prices sharply higher.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged 4,626.18 points, or 2.48%, to close at 181,629.37 points.
Internationally, Asian shares climbed on Thursday as semiconductors got a respite from heavy selling, though gains were capped by a surge in oil prices as a resumption of hostilities in the Gulf reignited inflation fears and hammered bonds.
Oil prices rose for a third straight session after President Donald Trump said the interim agreement with Iran to end the war was “over”.
The U.S. military also launched fresh strikes on Iran for a second day to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, although Trump later said he did not expect a return to a full-fledged war, helping soothe concerns.
Brent crude futures rose 0.8% to $78.65 a barrel and were up 9% this week to cross above $80 a barrel for the first time since June 22.
That knocked global bond markets and boosted bets that the Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates this year to tame inflation, with Fed funds futures now implying 38 basis points of policy tightening this year, back to where they were a week ago.
Wall Street initially fell on Trump’s comments but climbed off session lows, with the Nasdaq eking out a small gain of 0.2%. Chip giant Nvidia rallied 3.6% after media reports that China plans to allow its top AI firms to buy a limited number of the company’s H200 chips.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8%, while Japan’s Nikkei climbed 2.3% to break a three-day losing streak.
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