KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a brutal session on Monday, opening sharply lower and facing relentless selling pressure throughout the day, mirroring the global market sell-off.
The benchmark Index KSE-100 nosedived to an intraday low of 8,687 points, registering the largest intraday point-wise drop in PSX history. During the intraday trading, at 11:58:45 am the trading was halted for one hour as per PSX regulations due to sharp decline of 5 percent in the KSE-30 index from the previous trading day close and all equity and equity-based markets were suspended accordingly.
The index remained in negative territory throughout the session, hitting an intraday low of 110,103.98 points. Although some recovery was seen in the late hours, it wasn’t enough to offset the losses. End of the trading session, the KSE-100 index was plunged by 3,882.17 points, or 3.3 percent, to settle at 114,909.49 on Monday, compared to Friday’s close of 118,791.66 points.
On Monday, BRIndex100 opened at 12,817.31 points and closed at 12,333.60 points, which was 483.71 points or 3.77 percent lower than previous close. Total volume at BRIndex100 was 611.679 million shares. BRIndex30 also lost 2,133.18 points or 5.49 percent to close at 36,709.06 points with total volume of 431 million shares.
Market Capitalization fell sharply Rs 475 billion to Rs 14.001 trillion. Average daily turnover rose to 711 million up from 553.68 million in the previous session. Similarly, the total traded value on the ready counter surged to Rs 43 billion, compared to Rs35.4 billion in the last session.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that carnage at the local bourse was seen on Monday as the market mirrored the global sell-off, opening on a sharply negative note and experiencing relentless selling pressure throughout the day. While this decline set a new record in absolute terms, it was not the steepest in percentage terms. The most severe single-session percentage fall remains the 12.4 percent drop on June 1, 1998, they added.
In response to the extreme volatility, trading was temporarily halted for one hour, triggered by the KSE-30 index falling more than 5 percent for five consecutive minutes, activating the market’s circuit breaker mechanism.
However, According to Topline, some stability returned during the later hours as value hunters stepped in, helping the index recover part of the losses. The major drag on the index came from ENGROH, OGDC, PPL, HUBC, and PSO, which collectively contributed a negative impact of 1,247 points. Traded value wise PSO (Rs4.2bn), MARI (Rs2.73bn), OGDC (Rs2.45bn), MLCF (Rs1.92bn) and HUBC (Rs1.89bn) dominated the trading activity.
Out of 450 active scrips, 52 closed in positive and 357 in negative while the value of 41 stocks remained unchanged. WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 55.274 million shares and closed at Rs 1.28 followed by Cnergyico PK that closed at Rs 7.83with 53.4 million shares. B O Punjab XD ranked third with share trading of 34 million shares and it closed at Rs 10.39.
Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited and The Thal Industries Corporation Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 98.20 and Rs 24.28 respectively to close at Rs 1,080.18 and Rs 374.28, while Bata Pakistan Limited and Nestle Pakistan Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 157.05 and Rs 149.98 respectively to close at Rs1,528.76 and Rs 7,200.02.
BR Automobile Assembler Index closed at 21,372.65 points, down 474.79 points or 2.17 percent, with a total turnover of 13.63 million shares. BR Cement Index settled at 13,026.77 points, recording a loss of 317.45 points or 2.38 percent, on a turnover of 84.30 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index ended at 32,468.56 points, falling 794.98 points or 2.39 percent, with 75.97 million shares traded. BR Power Generation & Distribution Index dropped to 19,175.26 points, losing 929.92 points or 4.63 percent, with a turnover of 51.45 million shares.
BR Oil & Gas Index declined to 11,721.92 points, shedding 597.43 points or 4.85 percent, on a volume of 74.90 million shares. BR Technology & Communication Index plunged to 4,778.11 points, down 280.91 points or 5.55 percent, with a turnover of 90.44 million shares.
Muhammad Suhail Topline Securities said that following global market crash Pakistan Market lost 3.3 percent owing to the escalating tariff war initiated by USA and subsequently retaliated by other nations. After hitting a halt when it fell 5 percent trading resumed after cooling period and saw some value buying.
He said that at sector level, Oil and Gas exploration sector, Technology, and Textile sector are expected to be affected as these are either linked to the global commodity prices (like crude oil) or linked with global aggregate demand. On the other hand, amidst lower oil prices, the inflation might ease down and can help reducing interest rates further, which may result in lower earnings of the Banks going forward as well, he added.
On macro side, every $10/barrel decline in oil prices results in import bill saving of US$2bn for crude oil, refined oil (petrol diesel), and RLNG import. Assuming decline of 5-10% in textile exports to USA (which is US$250-500mn), the country will save net US$1-1.5bn in import bill.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said stocks plunged amid rout in global equities after Trump showed no sign of backing away from US tariff plans, mounting risk of global recession.
He said that late session retreat witnessed on government’s hopes to negotiate with US on tariffs, PM announced industrial power tariff cut and upbeat CPI inflation data stood at 0.7pc YoY in Mar’25, likely to further ease SBP policy next month.
“Worries over 29pc massive US reciprocal tariff levies to be effective next week, LSM contraction and falling rupee played catalyst role in record bearish close at PSX,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
