Selling observed at PSX, KSE-100 down nearly 700 points in early trade
- Benchmark index was hovering at 186,768.04
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's KSE-100 Index dropped nearly 700 points on Tuesday, experiencing selling pressure across key sectors after a recent record-setting rally.
- PSX KSE-100 Index decline on Tuesday.
- Selling pressure across major sectors.
- Previous record-setting rally at PSX.
- International stock market trends.
After days of buying momentum, selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 700 points during the trading session on Tuesday.
At 2:08pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 186,768.04, down by 686.65 points or 0.37%.
Selling was witnessed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, ARL, MARI, OGDC, PSO, HBL, MCB and UBL, traded in the red.
On Monday, PSX extended its record-setting rally as strong institutional buying, supported by softer international crude oil prices and improving investor confidence, kept bulls firmly in control throughout the trading session.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at a fresh all-time closing high of 187,454.69 points, gaining 2,082.49 points or 1.12%.
Internationally, Asian stocks drifted lower on Tuesday, even after South Korea’s Samsung Electronics forecast an eye-popping 19-fold jump in second-quarter profit, while the Japanese yen remained pinned near 40-year lows amid intervention speculation.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, estimated April-June operating profit at 89.4 trillion won ($58.44 billion), a third straight quarter of record operating profit.
South Korean shares slumped 4.1%, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.73%. Japan’s Nikkei shed 1.08%.
The sharp rally in AI-related shares has likely been driven by concerns over the economy and inflation, with worries about the outlook — including worsening tensions involving Iran — prompting investors to seek refuge in the sector, said Toru Suehiro, chief economist at Daiwa Securities.
All three major U.S. stock indexes ended higher on Wall Street overnight, buoyed by hopes that artificial intelligence will fuel a strong second-quarter earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 0.29%, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.72% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.12%.
This is an intraday update