Selling continues unabated, KSE-100 settles with nearly 1,100 points loss

Bearish sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 1,100 points amid selling pressure on Tuesday.

The benchmark index opened on a relatively positive note and quickly surged to an intra-day high of 169,313, indicating early buying interest. However, this momentum proved short-lived as profit-taking emerged soon after, triggering a sharp pullback before mid-day.

The index then drifted lower, touching an intra-day low of 168,170.74, suggesting cautious investor sentiment and a lack of strong triggers.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 168,412.23, down by 1,085.12 points or 0.64%.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased its policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.50% after the monetary policy committee meeting on Monday.

“The market is reeling from the State Bank’s surprise decision to raise the policy rate to 11.5%, defying hopes for a cut,” said Behtari Capital on Tuesday.

“The market needs time to digest the 11.5% rate environment,” it added.

Topline Securities said the surprise tightening weighed on investor sentiment, triggering cautious positioning and broad-based profit-taking across key sectors.

Key index heavyweights, including FFC, UBL, LUCK, NBP, and SAZEW, remained under sustained selling pressure, collectively eroding 733 points from the index, Topline said.

On Monday, PSX witnessed a volatile and bearish session as investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy announcement. The KSE-100 then settled at 169,497.36 points, losing 1,174.68 points or 0.69%.

Internationally, Asian stocks held near record ​highs and the dollar was muted on Tuesday as investors weighed the geopolitical maelstrom in the Middle East and braced for megacap earnings and ‌a slate of central bank meetings, with the Bank of Japan due later in the day.

While the US was reviewing Tehran’s latest proposal to resolve the war in the Middle East, a US official said President Donald Trump was unhappy with the proposal because it did not address Iran’s nuclear program.

That leaves the two-month-long conflict in a stalemate with energy and other supplies through the critical Strait of Hormuz at a standstill.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.12%, hovering near the record high it touched on ​Monday. The index is on course for a 17% rise in April after dropping 13.5% in March.

Japan’s Nikkei was down ⁠0.5% after scaling a fresh record peak in the previous session. The S&P 500 eked out modest gains on Monday, poised for about 10% gain for the ​month. US stock futures were 0.1% higher in Asian hours on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered a marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the local currency settled at 278.81, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 1,190.34 million from 780.23 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs34.54 billion from Rs33.42 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 265.57 million shares, followed by Yousuf Weaving with 92.44 million shares, and Loads Limited with 60.11 million shares.

Shares of 482 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 168 registered an increase, 284 recorded a fall, and 30 remained unchanged.