Seling grips bourse, KSE-100 sheds over 1,000 points in early trade

Selling pressure was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as geopolitical situation in the region remains tense, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,000 points during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday. At 9:25am, the benchmark index was hovering at 154,812.88, down by 1,045.59 points or 0.67%. Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red. In a key development, Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made “considerable progress” in discussions on the third review of the country’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, IMF mission chief Iva Petrova said on Wednesday, adding that talks will continue in the coming days to assess further the impact of recent global developments on the economy.