PSX falls over 5,000 points as selling pressure hits market

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started the week on a weak note as heavy selling pushed the KSE-100 Index down by over 5,000 points on Monday. The index closed at 174,453.93, dropping 5,149.80 points, or 2.87%.

Major sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and power generation faced strong selling pressure. Big stocks like ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL, and NBP also remained in the red.

The PSX had a tough previous week as well, with political uncertainty and security issues in Balochistan causing continued selling. The KSE-100 Index fell 4,525.85 points, or 2.5%, to close at 179,603.73 points by the week’s end.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw a slight gain for the second week in a row, rising by Re0.09, or 0.03%, against the US dollar in the inter-bank market. It closed at 279.62 compared to 279.71 a week earlier, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).