Hasnain Jafri
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure on Wednesday as escalating military confrontation between the United States and Iran and a sharp rise in global oil prices dampened investor sentiment, sending the benchmark KSE-100 Index down by nearly 700 points.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 171,943.59 points, shedding 698.57 points, or 0.40 percent, as investors remained cautious amid mounting concerns over possible disruptions to crude supplies from the Middle East.
Global oil prices climbed towards $100 a barrel as renewed US-Iran hostilities intensified fears of prolonged supply disruptions from the oil-rich region, adding to uncertainty across financial markets.
The benchmark remained volatile throughout the session, moving within a range of 1,372.52 points. It touched an intraday high of 173,174.18, gaining 532.02 points, before selling pressure dragged it to a low of 171,801.66, down 840.50 points.
Trading volume in KSE-100 constituents stood at 158.72 million shares. Of the 100 index companies, 28 advanced, 69 declined and three closed unchanged.
Among the major laggards, BWCL fell 2.47 percent, SHFA 2.23 percent, SSGC 2.18 percent, CHCC 2.15 percent and SRVI 2.14 percent.
On the positive side, PSEL surged 10 percent, followed by NPL with a gain of 3.62 percent, LCI 3.51 percent, SAZEW 1.46 percent and PABC 1.38 percent.
In terms of index-point contribution, FFC was the biggest drag, knocking 136.62 points off the benchmark, followed by MCB with 91.74 points, LUCK 67.45 points, MEBL 62.86 points and MARI 50.47 points.
Conversely, PSEL provided the strongest support by adding 107.08 points, while UBL contributed 91.03 points, OGDC 26.07 points, LCI 24.78 points and SAZEW 19.38 points.
Sector-wise, commercial banks led the decline with a negative contribution of 203.06 points, followed by cement at 191.35 points, fertilizer at 170.84 points, technology and communication at 51.58 points, and oil and gas exploration companies at 48.13 points.
The losses were partially offset by gains in miscellaneous companies, which added 99.03 points, chemicals 26.12 points, automobile assemblers 20.10 points, textile composite 8.21 points, and power generation and distribution 7.53 points.
The broader market also remained bearish, with the All-Share Index closing at 104,321.40 points, down 337.01 points or 0.32 percent.
Overall market activity slowed considerably. Total traded volume declined to 477.67 million shares, compared with 722.62 million shares in the previous session, while traded value dropped by Rs5.31 billion to Rs22.64 billion.
A total of 333,438 trades were executed in shares of 492 companies. Of these, 162 companies closed higher, 293 ended in the red, while 37 remained unchanged.
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