The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw volatile trading on Monday, with its benchmark KSE-100 Index swaying in both directions before closing the day lower by nearly 500 points.
The KSE-100 started trading on a positive note, hitting an intra-day high of 158,850.34.
However, the index witnessed selling pressure in the second half, which pushed it into negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 157,554.66, down by 482.71 points or 0.31%.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is set to visit Pakistan on September 25, 2025, for the second semi-annual review of the $7-billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), with the country expected to meet all seven Quantitative Performance Criteria (QPC) for the March and June 2025 quarters, including net international reserves and SWAP positions, said Topline Securities in its report on Saturday.
During the previous week, the PSX sustained its bullish momentum, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surging 3,597.68 points, or 2.3%, to settle at 158,037.37 points compared to 154,439.69 points a week earlier.
The index touched a weekly high of 159,337 points, marking one of the strongest rallies of the year as investor confidence was buoyed by a combination of domestic and external triggers.
Internationally, Asian stocks drifted higher and the dollar steadied on Monday, with markets weighing the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path after a rate cut last week, while President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown on worker visas kept sentiment in check.
India’s benchmark index slipped after the Trump administration said on Friday it would ask companies to pay $100,000 for new H-1B worker visas, a blow to the tech sector that relies on skilled workers from India and China.
US stock futures eased, with the S&P futures down 0.1%, while European futures indicated a subdued open.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1% higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 1.3% and Taiwan stocks gained more than 1% to a record high.
India’s $283 billion information technology sector, which gets more than half of its revenue from the US, will likely feel the pain in the near term amid souring ties between India and the United States.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,665 million from 2,047 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs60.90 billion from Rs69.27 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 236.01 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 158.72 million shares, and B.O.PunjabXD with 126.79 million shares.
Shares of 483 companies were traded on Monday, of which 209 registered an increase, 252 recorded a fall, while 22 remained unchanged.
