PSX: KSE-100 settles 1,100 points lower amid late selling

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile trading session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging both ways before closing with a loss of over 1,100 points.

The market opened on a positive note, and the index initially extended gains, hitting an intra-day high of 178,942.31. However, the upward momentum failed to sustain as selling pressure emerged, with the index gradually losing ground during the session.

The selling intensified in the afternoon, dragging the index to an intra-day low of 176,638.10 near the end of the session before recovering marginally.

At close, the KSE-100 settled at 176,846.36, down 1,109.14 points or 0.62%.

“The local bourse opened on a positive note, supported by news that the government plans to tackle Rs1.49 trillion of the Rs3.6 trillion gas-sector circular debt. The settlement plan is expected to be partly funded through higher dividends from state-owned E&Ps and increased PDL collections,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

On the positive side, PPL, PTC, DGKC, ISL, and FATIMA emerged as the major gainers, collectively contributing around 176 points to the KSE-100 Index. On the flip side, UBL, ENGROH, HBL, FFC, and ATRL were the major laggards, collectively dragging the index down by 641 points, it added.

In a key development, Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed by 38% year-on-year (YoY) during the first month of the fiscal year 2026-27, supported by higher exports and healthy workers’ remittances.

According to statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday, the country posted a current account deficit of $328 million in July 2026, compared with a deficit of $529 million in July 2025, showing an improvement of $201 million.

On Tuesday, PSX came under heavy selling pressure as persistent domestic political uncertainty and rising international crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. The benchmark KSE-100 Index was down 2,546.94 points, or 1.41%, to close at 177,955.51 points.

Internationally, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7%, and Japan’s Nikkei was down 2.6%, following tech-led losses ​on Wall Street overnight.

U.S. and European stock futures slipped about 0.1%.

In China, shares in the world’s biggest humanoid-robot maker, Unitree, ​soared 600% on debut, a listing that was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors.

Asia’s broader technology and semiconductor stocks came under ‌pressure, tracking ⁠overnight losses on Wall Street and reports that Anthropic’s annual revenue run-rate topped $65 billion at the end of July, which was behind some market hopes.

The risk-averse mood has lent a little support to the dollar in currency markets, though moves were small.

The Canadian dollar rose a tad after U.S. President Donald Trump paused imposing a 50% tariff on Canadian goods for three days, saying the ​countries had reached a deal.

The ​euro hovered at $1.1576, and the ⁠yen traded at 159.44 per dollar, just in the shadow of 160 - a level investors see as a potential trigger for another round of official intervention.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee extended its marginal gains against the US dollar on Wednesday. The local unit closed the day at 277.60, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 787.89 million from 1,038.64 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares declined to Rs39.57 billion from Rs50.74 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 217.46 million shares, followed by Fast Cables Ltd with 27.38 million shares, and Aisha Steel Mill with 27.21 million shares.

Shares of 496 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 185 registered an increase, 271 recorded a fall, and 40 remained unchanged.