After opening on a strong note, stocks at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came under intense and sustained selling pressure, gradually erasing all early gains through the morning session. By Thursday afternoon, the benchmark KSE-100 Index had shed nearly 1,200 points during intraday trading.
At 3:15 pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 168,785.85, representing a steep decline of 1,183.47 points, or 0.70%.
Broad-based selling was observed across key macroeconomic sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks, including DGKC, HBL, MCB, UBL, NBP, MARI, OGDC, PPL, and PSO, traded deep in the red.
This sharp downturn abruptly halted Wednesday’s recovery, where selective buying in commercial banks and fertilizers had briefly lifted the market by 368.92 points (0.22%) to close at 169,969.33.
“The local bourse is directly reacting to broader macroeconomic hesitations and a brutal global bond market,” noted market analysts. “Despite a strong opening, aggressive offloading in index-heavy sectors quickly dragged the KSE-100 down as investors locked in profits and assessed global risks.”
In a key domestic policy development, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) announced on Wednesday that it had officially extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for the tax year 2026, pushing the cutoff from September 30 to October 15.
Globally, Asian equities remained subdued on Thursday, and global bonds were still under severe pressure following a brutal September.
Blockbuster earnings from AI chipmaker Micron failed to lift the frayed mood in Asia. Furthermore, stalling peace talks between the US and Iran aimed at ending the seven-month-long war in the Middle East have kept global oil prices elevated, further dampening investor sentiment.
“Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are maintaining an artificial floor on oil prices, completely subduing broader market optimism despite some positive tech earnings,” financial strategists reported.
On the equities front, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.2%, with South Korea’s KOSPI easing 0.14%. However, Japan’s Nikkei bucked the regional trend, jumping over 1% driven by chip-related shares. Futures for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were up 0.3%, while European stock futures slid 0.75% in early trading.
The global hesitation comes even as investors weigh a slower-than-expected rise in US inflation in August. Data released on Wednesday showed that US price pressures were more moderate than previously reported, leading traders to rein in wagers of a Federal Reserve rate hike on October 28.
Traders are now pricing in a 38% chance of a hike this month, down significantly from 50% a day earlier, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. The Fed had previously raised rates in September for the first time in three years, simultaneously flagging further increases in borrowing costs in the months ahead.