PSX: selling at bourse, KSE-100 down over 1,300 points

According to Business Recorder, the Pakistan Stock Exchange opened Monday under heavy pressure, with the KSE-100 slipping more than 800 points in the first minutes of trading. By 10:01am the index had dropped to 166,851.39, a decline of 1,304.10 points or 0.78%. Losses were concentrated in automobile assemblers, cement makers, banks, oil and gas explorers, oil marketing companies, power producers and refiners.

The slide follows a difficult previous week, when the index lost 2,609.74 points (1.5%) and ended at 168,155.48. Business Recorder attributed that weakness to stalled US-Iran talks, a global bond sell-off that pushed US Treasury yields to their loftiest level since 2002, and a larger domestic trade gap. Index-heavy names including PRL, NRL, HUBC, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, MEBL, NBP and UBL all traded in the red.

Overseas, equities started firmly on Monday, the dollar eased and bonds steadied as traders reduced wagers on an aggressive Federal Reserve tightening path. Cooler than expected US jobs data and sharp downward revisions to payrolls for the two prior months almost ruled out another Fed rate increase this month. CME FedWatch pricing showed a 22% chance of such a hike, down from 64% a week earlier, while Japan's Nikkei climbed 2% early in the session.