Profit-taking engulfs bourse, KSE-100 sheds over 1,200 points

Profit-taking was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,200 points during the intra-day of trading on Monday. At 12:15pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 167,788.69, a decrease of 1,201.38 points or 0.71%. Selling was observed in key segments including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, SSGC, SNGP, MCB, MEBL and UBL, traded in the red. In a key development, Pakistan recorded the fastest decline in sovereign default risk, according to Bloomberg, and now stands second globally—behind only Türkiye. During the previous week, the PSX maintained its strong upward momentum, with the KSE-100 Index closing at an all-time high of 168,990.06 points, marking a 4.1% week-on-week (WoW) increase. According to JS Global Capital, this represents the best nine-month performance since 2009, fuelled by continued investor optimism, sectoral strength, and improving macroeconomic indicators.