‘Lack of triggers’: KSE-100 closes 543 points lower as selling persists

Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing the day lower by 543 points.

The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 112,569.90, which was followed by the index swaying in both directions.

However, the bears strengthened their position in the final hours and pushed the index to an intra-day low of 111,157.19.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 111,487.36, down by 543 points or 0.48%.

“This pressure in market can be attributed to lack of triggers, selling by intuitions and ongoing futures’ rollover week,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

Top negative contribution to the index came from FFC, EFERT, PSO, MCB, HUBC and BAFL, as they cumulatively lost value to weigh down on the index by 508 points, according to the report.

“We understand that this being a rollover week has played a role in extending the negative trend,” said another brokerage house Intermarket Securities in a note.

It added that fresh liquidity, needed to sustain current index levels, dried up as conversions at mutual funds slowed.

On Tuesday, selling pressure persisted at the bourse, as the KSE-100 lost nearly 1,500 points at 112,030.36.

Internationally, technology stocks led gains in Asia-Pacific markets on Wednesday, tracking advances on Wall Street overnight as investor angst ebbed over the emergence of a low-cost Chinese AI model that some see rivalling US dominance of the industry.

Trading was thinned in Asia by Lunar New Year holidays that shuttered exchanges in mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea.

Japan’s Nikkei share average rose 0.5% as of 0055 GMT, putting it on track to snap three straight days of declines.

Australia’s stock benchmark added 0.8%, with a subindex of tech names climbing 2.2%.

Futures for the US S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were each down about 0.1%, following respective rallies of 0.9% and 2% for the cash indexes overnight.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq had tumbled more than 3% in the previous session, after the spiking popularity of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s app called into question sky-high valuations for US chipmaker Nvidia and others at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Attention now turns to mega-cap tech company earnings coming up on Wall Street later in the day from Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Tesla.

Executives can expect to be asked whether they still plan to spend so much on computing power.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.02% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the currency settled at 278.87 for a gain of Re0.06 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 449.24 million from 517.80 million on Tuesday.

The value of shares declined to Rs28.19 billion from Rs29.21 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 31.20 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 29.67 million shares, and Citi Pharma Ltd with 25.41 million shares.

Shares of 448 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 138 registered an increase, 247 recorded a fall, while 63 remained unchanged.