The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started the week on a bearish note as rising geopolitical tensions weighed on investor sentiment, causing the benchmark KSE-100 Index to fall by over 1,500 points.
At the close of trading, the index stood at 168,953.70, down 1,525.24 points or 0.89%.
Selling pressure was witnessed across major sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing companies (OMCs), power generation, and refineries. Key index-heavy stocks such as MARI, OGDC, PPL, and UBL all closed in negative territory.
The decline follows a difficult previous week when escalating tensions between the United States and Iran continued to drag the market lower.
Investor concerns over regional instability and rising global oil prices led to cautious trading, with the KSE-100 Index falling 2% week-on-week, losing 3,483.87 points to close at 170,478.94.
Meanwhile, global oil markets surged on Monday amid renewed geopolitical conflict. Brent crude futures climbed $4.42, or 4.47%, to $97.15 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $4.07, or 4.50%, to $94.61 per barrel as of early trading.
