Stocks retreat at PSX as investors lock in gains, KSE-100 sheds nearly 1,200 points

After initial buying momentum, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a downward trend on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing nearly 1,200 points during intra-day trading. The market opened on a positive note but soon came under selling pressure, leading to a broad-based pullback as trading progressed. At 10:50am, the benchmark index was hovering at 158,406.27, a decrease of 1,171.92 points or 0.73%. Selling pressure was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, PSO, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red. On Wednesday, PSX witnessed a sharp downturn as profit-taking and the absence of new market triggers weighed on investor sentiment. The KSE-100 Index plunged by 1,703.58 points, or 1.06%, to close at 159,578.19 points.