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

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw selling pressure during the trading session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing nearly 1%.

The market opened on a positive note, with the benchmark index initially gaining momentum and touching an intraday high of 180,310.44 points. However, the early buying momentum could not be sustained as selling pressure emerged, pushing the benchmark into negative territory.

The index subsequently witnessed a gradual decline during the morning session, followed by a sharp sell-off around midday, when it dropped towards the 177,500-point level. A brief recovery around the early afternoon session lifted the index towards 178,400 points, but the rebound proved short-lived.

The benchmark remained under pressure during the latter part of the session, with renewed selling dragging it lower towards the intraday’s low of 177,271.60 points.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 177,373.76, down 1,710.04 points or 0.95%.

“Investor sentiment remained subdued amid broad-based selling pressure, with market participants adopting a cautious stance following the recent rally. The decline reflected profit-taking and weakness in key index-heavy stocks,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

On the contribution front, UBL, FFC, HUBC, LUCK and SYS emerged as the leading negative contributors, collectively shave approximately 931 points to the benchmark index, it added.

On Wednesday, PSX closed marginally lower as late-session profit-taking pared gains. The benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 251.44 points, or 0.14%, to close at 179,083.80 points.

Internationally, global stocks wobbled at the start of Asian trading on Thursday, while Nvidia shares plunged in after-hours trading on news that its board may oust longtime CEO ​Jensen Huang.

Nvidia’s board is meeting late Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, ‌a source familiar with the matter said, as the world’s dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with the fallout of allegations that he had an affair with a suspected spy for China.

The New York Times has also ​reported that Huang had had an affair with a company executive who reported to ​him.

Shares in Nvidia slid more than 8% after the bell, weighing on S&P 500 e-mini futures, which slipped 0.4%.

Regional indexes fared better ​after a choppy start. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2%, Taiwanese shares gained 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ​climbed 0.5%, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1% lower, weighed down by shares ‌in Hong ⁠Kong.

Stocks on Wall Street made gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% and coming close to retracing all of the losses since last week’s US midterm elections.

Fed funds futures are pricing an 87.3% chance of a 25-basis-point ⁠hike ​at the US central bank’s next two-day meeting on December ​9, compared to a 12.7% chance of a larger 50-basis-point hike, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee continued its marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. The local unit closed the day at 276.61, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,070.48 million from 1,248.21 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares declined to Rs31.64 billion from Rs41.81 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 190.62 million shares, followed by Tasdeeq Information with 147.35 million shares, and F. Nat.Equities with 55.34 million shares.

Shares of 500 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 155 registered an increase, 316 recorded a fall, and 29 remained unchanged.