ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) faced massive selling pressure on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 2,002.55 points.
The index settled at 116,439.62, marking a decline of 1.69 percent. Selling was observed in key sectors including oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refineries, automobile assemblers cement, and fertilizer. Index-heavy stocks including DGKC, HBL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, and PSO settled in the red.
On Monday a total of 311,970,520 shares were entertained as compared to 369,119,112 shares on the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 20.953 billion against Rs 23.273 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 468 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 124 of them registered gains, and 266 met losses, whereas the share price of 78 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were Pak Elektron with 28,623,330 shares at Rs 45.87 per share, Cnergyico PK with 19,218,186 shares at Rs 7.94 per share, and TRG Pak Limited with 15,741,063 shares at Rs 70.20 per share.
Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 57.07 per share closing at Rs 9,157.07 whereas Hoechst Pakistan Limited was the runner-up with Rs 47.98 increase in its share price to close at Rs 3,297.98.
Service Industries Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 82.56 per share price, closing at Rs 1,318.43, whereas the runner-up was Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited with a fall of Rs 40.05 decline in its per share price to Rs 23,525.50.
Last week, the PSX continued its positive momentum, reaching an all-time high of 118,442.18 points, up from 115,536.17 points the previous week.
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On the international front, financial markets had a mixed start on Monday. US stock futures saw an uptick, while the dollar showed volatility ahead of a data-packed week, with earnings reports from China and the looming threat of significant US tariff hikes.
S&P 500 futures gained approximately 0.6% in the Asia morning, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose by 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng both climbed by about 0.2%.
This week, key events to watch include global purchasing managers index (PMI) readings, the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, inflation data from Australia and Japan, an updated UK budget, and major earnings reports from China.
