PSX: selling at bourse, KSE-100 down 1,200 points

Selling returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday after an initially firmer start, taking the KSE-100 to 177,871.25 by 12:50pm. Business Recorder’s intraday report put the benchmark 1,212.55 points below Wednesday’s close of 179,083.80, when late profit-taking had already trimmed the index by 251.44 points, or 0.14%.

Pressure spread across several areas of the market, including vehicle makers, cement, banks, exploration firms, oil marketing companies and power producers. HUBCO, PPL, OGDC, PSO, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL were among the index-heavy counters trading lower. The report also noted uneven Asian trading, following a rise in US shares on Wednesday and an after-hours decline of more than 8% in Nvidia stock, but gave no specific link between those moves and the PSX decline.