PSX stays jittery, index falls below 180,000-level

Dawn reported that the benchmark KSE-100 closed Tuesday at 179,846.68 points, a fall of 1,463.60 points or 0.81 per cent. It was the third consecutive session of unsettled trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, with the index slipping below the 180,000-point level as investors reduced their holdings. Rising uncertainty tied to the Middle East conflict weighed on sentiment, while higher crude oil prices prevented early gains from holding.

Trading peaked at 181,017 points early on, then the index dropped to 179,778 points, a range of 1,238 points. Topline Securities noted that selling returned and profit-taking spread across major heavyweight sectors. Fauji Fertiliser, Lucky Cement, Engro Holdings, United Bank and Bank Al-Habib were the biggest detractors, together pulling the index down by roughly 778 points.

Trading activity weakened, with volume down 6.21 per cent to 860 million shares and turnover down 13.26 per cent to Rs38.86bn. Cnergyico PK was the most traded stock by volume, at 133.9 million shares. On the corporate side, Fauji Cement Company posted FY26 net earnings of Rs16.2bn, up 21 per cent year on year, with earnings per share at Rs6.6, and declared Rs1.5 per share as a final cash dividend.