PSX: Selling at bourse, down nearly 500 points

Share prices slid on the Pakistan Stock Exchange early on Monday, according to Business Recorder. By 10:15am the KSE-100 Index, the market's main benchmark, had lost 465.98 points, a fall of 0.27 per cent, leaving it at 170,299.24. Selling reached car assemblers, cement, bank stocks, fertiliser makers, exploration firms and fuel marketers.

Index-heavy names HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO and HBL were also trading in negative territory. Separately, Khurram Schehzad, Adviser to the Finance Minister, said on Sunday that Pakistan had discussed possible US Export-Import Bank financing for Boeing aircraft for the privatised PIA. No state loan or sovereign backing has yet been announced for the carrier, he noted.

The index had lost 119.37 points, or 0.1 per cent, to end the previous week at 170,765.22. Investors stayed wary as geopolitical tensions and changing domestic politics weighed on risk appetite. Abroad, most share markets fell on Monday as oil climbed again, with doubts over a quick US-Iran truce also keeping bonds under pressure.