Bloodbath at PSX: KSE-100 shed over 15,000 points in opening minutes

Selling pressure gripped the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the region, driving the benchmark KSE-100 Index below the 153,000 level on Monday. At 9:22am, the benchmark index was hovering at 152,991.15 , down by 15,071.01 points or 8.97%. Following the nearly 9% drop, trading activity at PSX was halted and will reopen at 10.22am. “All TRE Certificate Holders are hereby informed that due to a 5% decrease in the KSE-30 index from the previous trading day’s close of the same, a Market Halt has been triggered as per PSX Regulations, and all equity-based markets have been suspended accordingly,” read the notice. Analysts attributed the selling pressure to regional tensions, sparking fears of rising economic pressures on the country. “Elevated oil prices are highly detrimental to Pakistan’s external account, and persistently high commodity prices are likely to trigger a new wave of inflation,” Waqas Ghani, Head of Research at JS Global, told Business Recorder. Across-the-board selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assembler, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including HBL, MCB, MEBL, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, HUBCO, ARL, traded in the red.