PSX: selling continues, KSE-100 down nearly 1%

Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as fighting intensified between Saudi Arabia and Yemen-based Houthis, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index dropping nearly 1% on Friday.

The market remained under pressure throughout much of the session. The index opened near the upper end of its daily range, reaching an intra-day high of 163,966.86, before witnessing a sustained decline. Selling pressure intensified during the morning, pushing the index towards 162,500.

In the second half, the index staged a brief recovery, climbing to around 163,400. However, the rebound proved short-lived, as renewed selling dragged the index lower towards an intra-day low of 162,292.44 before the end of trading.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 162,374.87 points, down 1,549.44 points, or 0.95%.

“Selling pressure stems from two factors: weakness in global markets amid higher oil prices, and cautious sentiment ahead of the monetary policy decision on Monday amid expectations of a rate hike,” Sana Tawfik, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited, told Business Recorder.

Top negative contribution to the index came from MEBL, ENGROH, LUCK, HUBC and PPL, as they cumulatively weighed down on the index by 637 points, as per the post-market report of brokerage house Topline Securities.

The KSE-100 Index declined 2.43% week-on-week amid geopolitical tensions, rising oil prices, and profit-taking ahead of the SBP’s monetary policy decision, Topline said.

On Thursday, PSX again slipped as persistent geopolitical uncertainty, rising international oil prices and the absence of positive triggers weighed on investor sentiment, triggering broad-based selling across major sectors. The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 2,006.67 points, or 1.21%, to close at 163,924.32 points.

Internationally, Asian shares fell on Friday as concerns over the enormous funding needs of AI hammered tech and led to ​the biggest daily rally in Treasuries in more than three years, with investors fleeing to sovereign bonds and safe-haven currencies.

Markets also sharply pared back ‌expectations of further policy tightening from the Federal Reserve, stripping out almost a full quarter-point rate hike for next year amid concerns a bursting AI bubble could derail the data-centre investment boom and hobble the US economy.

A December rate rise is no longer fully priced, with the implied probability falling to 85%.

MSCI’s broadest ​index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan fell 0.3% on Friday, bringing its weekly loss to 2.7% and marking a fourth straight week ⁠in the red. Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.3% and was down a whopping 5% for the week.

South Korea’s KOSPI skidded 1.7%, on course for a 4.3% weekly decline, with ​memory chipmaker SK Hynix down 2.5% on the day. Taiwan’s stock market was closed due to a typhoon.

An index of mainland Chinese blue chips lost 1.1% on Friday to hit ​the lowest level since July 2025.

The index was down about 20% from its peak in late June.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.1% after dropping 3% on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee continued its marginal gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Friday. The local unit closed the day at 276.82, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 398.94 million from 367.09 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs18.20 billion from Rs17.99billion in the previous session.

Pervez Ahmed Co was the volume leader with 32.67 million shares, followed by MACPAC Films with 26.69 million shares, and Pak Refinery with 23.50 million shares.

Shares of 495 companies were traded on Friday, of which 136 registered an increase, 311 recorded a fall, and 48 remained unchanged.