PSX: selling at bourse, KSE-100 down over 1,600 points on political uncertainty, higher oil prices

Selling pressure hit the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing more than 1,600 points in the first minutes of trading. Business Recorder reported that at 11:45am the index stood at 166,554.66, a fall of 1,600.83 points or 0.95 per cent.

Analysts linked the decline to both domestic and global concerns. Saad Hanif of Ismail Iqbal Securities pointed to political uncertainty at home and higher oil prices, which he said were adding to inflation worries and encouraging caution among investors. Sana Tawfik of Arif Habib Limited said the market would take its direction from oil prices abroad and from whether domestic political noise eases, with the Monetary Policy Statement on the policy rate seen as the next key trigger.

The selling reached automobile, cement, bank, energy and refinery counters, with heavyweights PRL, NRL, HUBC, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, MEBL, NBP and UBL trading in negative territory. The index had already fallen 2,609.74 points, or 1.5 per cent, in the previous week to close at 168,155.48, as talks between the US and Iran stalled, US bond yields rose to their highest since 2002 and a larger domestic trade gap eroded risk appetite.