PSX falls as KSE-100 index drops over 2,000 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started Wednesday’s trading on a positive note but soon displayed significant intraday volatility, reflecting a cautious market sentiment. The benchmark KSE-100 Index opened higher, gaining 86.42 points to reach 161,468.18 at around 9:31 AM, with trading volume at 2,786,194 shares.

The initial optimism, however, was short-lived, as the index slipped into negative territory within minutes, dipping 1.18 points to 161,280.58 amid a surge in volume to 26,501,134 shares.

By 9:42 AM, the KSE-100 further declined, losing 515.67 points to 160,766.09 as the trading volume increased to 38,199,064 shares, signalling early nervousness among investors. The market regained some ground before midday, climbing to its intraday peak of 162,052.45 at 11:07 AM, marking a gain of 770.69 points on a volume of 121,824,897 shares.

Despite this recovery, the upward momentum could not be sustained, and the index turned negative again in the early afternoon. A sharp drop came at 1:46 PM when the KSE-100 plunged 1,616.23 points to 159,665.53 with volumes hitting 222,168,863 shares. By 2:24 PM, the index was trading at 159,770.22, down 1,511.54 points or 0.94 percent, with the total volume reaching 250,088,251 shares.

In year-on-year terms, the PSX has shown strong growth, rising 73.62 percent, while the year-to-date performance remains impressive at 38.78 percent. Over the past 52 weeks, the index has fluctuated between a low of 91,891.47 and a high of 169,988.62, highlighting the market’s broad trading range and underlying volatility.

Market performers

Investor attention during the session was drawn to a mix of top gainers and decliners. FNEL emerged as one of the most active stocks, climbing 10 percent to 18.48, while QUICE tumbled 10.03 percent to 10.32. Other notable performers included WAVES, which gained 5.98 percent to 15.25, and CNERGY, up 2.33 percent to 7.90. Among the top advancers, LSEVL led the pack with a surge of 12.17 percent to 6.73, followed by UCAPM (+11.32%), AMTEX (+10.97%), and DEL (+10.03%). On the downside, GEMBLUEX and SHCM each fell 10 percent, while KCL and SCL dropped over 9 percent.

The stock market fell further, with the KSE-100 index dropping 2,064.9 points to 159,216.86 around 2:42 PM, while the trading volume reached 266,932,986 shares.

Previous close

The previous session on Tuesday, November 4, had ended with the KSE-100 Index at 161,281.76, down 1,521.39 points or 0.93 percent. The index had traded within a wide range of 2,225.69 points, reaching a high of 163,384.95 and a low of 161,159.26.

Out of the 100 index companies, 17 closed higher, 81 declined, and two remained unchanged. Top gainers included DHPL (+10 percent) and PSEL (+9.62 percent), while major losers were TRG (-9.38 percent), KTML (-5.84 percent), and SSGC (-4.41 percent).