The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under intense selling pressure on Monday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index extended its losses amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, rising global oil prices, and concerns over potential disruptions to domestic economic activity, according to a report issued by AZEE Securities.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 146,842.97 points, posting a sharp decline of 4,864.54 points or 3.21%. The session was marked by extreme volatility, with the index moving within a wide range of 7,156.64 points. It reached an intraday high of 151,813.61 points (+106.10) before plunging to a low of 144,656.97 points (-7,050.54), reflecting aggressive and sustained selling pressure throughout the day.
Despite the bearish trend, trading activity remained strong, with total KSE-100 volume recorded at 308.12 million shares, indicating active repositioning by investors in response to evolving market conditions.
Market breadth remained overwhelmingly negative, underscoring the broad-based nature of the decline. Of the 100 index constituents, 97 stocks closed in the red, while only 2 posted gains and 1 remained unchanged, underscoring the dominance of sellers across nearly all sectors.
Among the top laggards were MEHT (-10.00%), PSX (-9.98%), GADT (-9.96%), GAL (-9.13%), and PAEL (-8.47%), reflecting steep losses across multiple market segments. On the upside, gains were extremely limited, with only MUREB (+0.68%) and MTL (+0.65%) managing to close marginally higher.
From an index contribution perspective, heavyweight stocks played a major role in dragging the market lower. Key contributors to the decline included FFC (-432.53 points), ENGROH (-331.98 points), MEBL (-272.38 points), LUCK (-260.65 points) and UBL (-230.75 points). In contrast, only minimal support came from MTL (+9.87 points) and MUREB (+2.14 points), with negligible impact on the overall index performance.
Sector-wise, the downturn was led by Commercial Banks (-1,332.72 points), followed by Cement (-691.42 points), Fertiliser (-631.02 points), Investment Banks / Securities Companies (-387.16 points), and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (-295.34 points). The widespread losses across these key sectors reflected a strong risk-off sentiment and investor retreat from cyclical and heavyweight stocks.
In the broader market, the All-Share Index also closed sharply lower at 87,967.58 points, down 2,983.36 points (3.28%), indicating widespread weakness beyond the benchmark index.
Overall market activity increased compared to the previous session, with total market volume rising to 529.13 million shares and traded value climbing to Rs. 29.60 billion, suggesting heightened activity amid the sell-off. A total of 388,442 trades were recorded across 480 companies, with 50 closing higher, 379 declining and 51 remaining unchanged, reinforcing the negative market breadth.
Investor sentiment remained fragile due to escalating geopolitical developments in the Middle East. Rising tensions, including missile activity involving Yemen’s Houthi forces targeting Israel, intensified fears of a broader regional conflict, pushing global oil prices higher and increasing uncertainty in financial markets.
Further pressure stemmed from remarks by Donald Trump, which reignited concerns about potential disruptions to global oil supply, adding to volatility in energy markets and weighing on emerging-market equities, including those in Pakistan.
On the domestic front, uncertainty surrounding a potential lockdown also dampened sentiment, raising concerns over disruptions to business activity, supply chains and consumer demand.
Overall, the session reflected heightened risk aversion, with investors aggressively reducing exposure across major sectors. Going forward, market direction is likely to remain closely tied to geopolitical developments, oil price movements and domestic economic conditions, all of which will continue to shape investor sentiment in the near term.
