KEY POINTS
- KSE-100 Index falls 877 points to 168,574.69 as early gains fade
- Total market volume exceeds 1.28 billion shares; 257 decliners outpace 190 advancers
- Profit-taking hits cement, banking, fertiliser, OMC, and oil & gas sectors
- Global tech volatility and Fed rate cut influence domestic investor sentiment
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Thursday’s session lower as early intraday gains faded, with investors booking profits across major sectors.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 168,574.69, down 877.17 points or 0.52%, while the KSE All Share Index fell 383.53 points to 102,171.27. The Index 30 declined 0.55% to 51,175.35.
Trading activity remained robust, with 1,288,969,191 shares changing hands across 429,816 trades, generating a turnover of over Rs 55,231 billion.
Market breadth indicated wider selling pressure: of 560 active companies, 190 advanced, 257 declined, and 113 remained unchanged.
Selling pressure was observed in index-heavy sectors, including cement, commercial banking, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, and OMCs. Notable decliners included HUBCO, MARI, POL, SNGPL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL, and NBP.
Market participants said the dip was largely driven by profit-taking after recent gains, combined with cautious sentiment amid domestic and global developments.
External and regional factors also influenced market activity. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) improved Pakistan’s growth outlook for 2025 and 2026, citing stabilising prices of key food items after last year’s floods, which provided some support to sentiment.
However, investor caution persisted amid global tech volatility and mixed regional cues.
Global markets reacted to disappointing earnings from US cloud computing giant Oracle, whose profit and revenue outlook missed forecasts.
Its shares fell more than 11% in after-hours trading, pushing S&P 500 futures down 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.5% during Asian trade.
In Japan, AI-exposed stocks led declines, with SoftBank Group down about 5%, keeping the Nikkei largely flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8%, lifting MSCI’s Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index by 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 3.5–3.75%, as expected. Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered a balanced message on the outlook, easing hawkish concerns and supporting Wall Street, with the S&P 500 closing higher by about 0.7%.
Analysts noted that PSX is likely to remain sensitive to global tech earnings, regional macroeconomic trends, and domestic corporate developments, as investors monitor cues amid ongoing volatility.
Funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amounting to $1.2 billion, to be posted on the State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves on December 12, would also strengthen the market sentiment.
