PSX falls despite rating upgrade

Pakistan Stock Exchange closed lower on Monday even though Moody's lifted Pakistan's sovereign grade from Caa1 to B3, with a stable outlook, according to Dawn. The KSE-100 index settled at 176,966.69, a decline of 199.84 points or 0.11 per cent, after climbing 956 points to an intraday high of 178,122.88 earlier in the session. Worries over Middle East tensions and a steady climb in crude prices fed fears of faster inflation and political instability.

Early optimism gave way to selling in the later part of the session, as traders booked profits and pushed the index down to an intraday low of 176,735.57, a fall of 430 points. Participation stayed strong, with volume up 35.45 per cent at 933.5 million shares and turnover up 23.67 per cent to Rs44bn. Cnergyico PK topped the volume table with 266m shares.

On the upside, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum, Maple Leaf Cement, DG Khan Cement and Fauji Cement together added around 391 points, while on the downside Engro Holdings, Meezan Bank, Service Industries and Systems Ltd weighed on the index by 388 points in total. Ali Najib of Arif Habib Ltd described the session as slightly negative despite the rating upgrade, while August headline inflation is expected to reach 11.1 per cent year-on-year, against 3 per cent in August 2025.