PSX: KSE-100 sheds nearly 1,500 points as situation remains tense in ME

Investors sold heavily on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday as Houthi forces struck Saudi Arabia again and Iran hit vessels in Gulf waters. By 1pm the KSE-100 index had slipped 1,479.68 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 169,032.17, Business Recorder reported. Losses spread through car makers, cement producers, lenders, energy explorers, fuel retailers and electricity generators.

Heavyweights HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, MEBL, MCB and NBP were all in negative territory during the session. Over the past week the index had shed 4,816.95 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 170,511.86 by the weekend. Worries over shipping security, disruption to global trade and rising crude prices had kept sentiment weak throughout that period.

Brent crude was up 2.6 per cent at $107.36 a barrel, extending a near 9 per cent gain last week, after strikes on a Saudi oil pipeline and ships in the Gulf. Talks due in Oman on Monday between Iran and Gulf Arab nations about reopening the Strait of Hormuz were pushed back. Markets priced an 86 per cent chance of a 25 basis point Federal Reserve hike on Wednesday, and Asian investors also weighed possible rate increases in the US and Japan this week.