The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatile trading on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the week’s last session lower by 532.64 points or 0.47% amid selling pressure.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 114,265.97, followed by selling pressure in the final hours, which pushed the index to an intra-day low of 113,201.84.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 113,251.67, down by 532.64 points or 0.47%.
“KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note and gained to make an intraday high of +482 points, which can be attributed to AGP PA result announcement in pre-open session which set the positive tone in market,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
“However during the latter hours of the trade pressure was observed in the market as index declined to close at 113,252 level,” it added.
Top positive contribution to the index came from BAHL, NBP, AGP, MEBL, NML and MLCF, as the cumulatively contributed +293 points to the index. On the other hand top negative contribution to the index came from ENGROH, FFC, SYS, MARI, EFERT and SEARL as they cumulatively contributed -521 points to the index, Topline said.
On Thursday, the PSX closed lower for the second consecutive day, driven primarily by profit-taking in key sectors. The KSE-100 decreased by 78.02 points or 0.07%, closing at 113,784.31.
Internationally, equities slumped in Asia on Friday and the US dollar hovered near multi-week highs against the currencies of the country’s top trading partners as concerns about an escalating global trade war soured market sentiment.
Technology shares took an additional hit following a sell-off in AI darling Nvidia and other so-called “Magnificent Seven” Wall Street mega-cap stocks, as investors judged the chipmaker’s earnings report harshly a day after it was released.
The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc strengthened, with Japan’s currency getting an additional boost from lower US Treasury yields.
An overall firmer dollar weighed on commodities including gold, although oil held on to most of Thursday’s strong gains spurred by US President Donald Trump’s cancellation of Chevron’s Venezuela licence.
Trump said on Thursday that 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico will come into effect on March 4 – not April 2 as he had suggested the day prior – and said goods from China will be subject to an additional 10% duty. He also this week promised 25% tariffs on shipments from the European Union.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.02% in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the rupee settled at 279.67, a gain of Re0.05 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 472.08 million from 397.39 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares rose to Rs22.78 billion from Rs19.33 billion in the previous session.
Pak Int.Bulk was the volume leader with 52.25 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 43.46 million shares, and National BankXD with 28.27 million shares.
Shares of 444 companies were traded on Friday, of which 119 registered an increase, 263 recorded a fall, while 62 remained unchanged.
