KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under sustained selling pressure through Wednesday’s midday session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index extending its losses as investors continued to grapple with policy uncertainty and mixed economic signals.
After a volatile start to the day—when the benchmark initially fell nearly 475 points, briefly recovered into positive territory within five minutes, and then slipped back into the red—the market failed to regain momentum as selling intensified across the board.
By 12:00pm, the KSE-100 Index was trading at 175,363.38 points, down 770.18 points, or 0.44%, reflecting a marked deterioration in sentiment compared to the opening session.
The broader market also weakened significantly.
Declining stocks surged to 277, comfortably outnumbering 179 advancing issues, while 108 stocks remained unchanged, indicating broad-based selling across multiple sectors.
Trading activity, however, remained robust despite the downturn. Total traded volume reached 320.87 million shares, with the value of shares traded climbing to Rs9.84 billion.
A total of 139,753 trades had been executed by midday, suggesting that investors remained actively repositioning their portfolios.
Other key indices also remained firmly in negative territory. The All Share Index fell 344.51 points (0.32%), the KSE-30 Index shed 286.81 points (0.55%), while the KMI-30 Index dropped 1,231.27 points (0.50%).
The BKTI Index also declined 246.23 points (0.49%), highlighting the broad nature of the sell-off.
Wednesday’s weakness comes a day after the benchmark index managed to close modestly higher despite surrendering much of its intraday gains to profit-taking. The choppy opening session had already signalled investor indecision, but losses deepened as trading progressed.
Market participants also remained cautious amid a nationwide strike by petrol pump owners over disagreements with the government on the petroleum dealers’ pricing formula and profit margins.
The disruption has added to concerns over the broader business environment and near-term economic activity.
Analysts said investor confidence has also been dented by conflicting policy signals from the government.
On one hand, the government has announced an austerity drive aimed at reducing public expenditure, while on the other, it has approved increases in allowances and benefits for sections of the bureaucracy and government functionaries.
The contrasting measures have raised questions among investors about the consistency of the government’s fiscal strategy at a time when economic discipline remains a key priority.
Market observers believe that unless greater clarity emerges on the government’s economic direction and fiscal priorities, the PSX could remain vulnerable to bouts of volatility, with investors likely to adopt a cautious stance despite strong underlying corporate fundamentals in several sectors.
