PSX: Selling continues, KSE-100 sheds nearly 900 points

Business Recorder reported that selling continued on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday, pushing the KSE-100 index down nearly 900 points in opening trade. At 10:40am the benchmark hovered at 171,058.74, a fall of 884.85 points or 0.51%, after Iran and the United States staged their heaviest assaults on shipping, the largest since a conflict now six months old began.

Declines were recorded in automobile assemblers, cement, bank stocks, fertiliser makers, upstream energy producers and OMCs. Heavyweights PSO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, FFC, MCB, MEBL and NBP were all trading lower.

On Wednesday the KSE-100 ended 698.56 points, or 0.40%, weaker at 171,943.60, as Middle East tensions, rising crude prices and selective profit-taking weighed on stocks. Abroad, Asian shares slipped as oil stayed above $100 a barrel ahead of US inflation data, while Brent was quoted near $101.4 a barrel in early trade.