Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a sharp reversal on Wednesday as renewed selling wiped out gains and the benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by nearly 1,600 points, reflecting widespread selling across key sectors.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 187,033.27, with a decrease of 1,588.52 points or 0.84%.
Trading opened on a relatively steady note, with the index briefly edging higher and touching an intra-day peak of 189,523.43. The optimism, however, proved short-lived. Persistent selling dominated most of the session, erasing early advances while pressure intensified towards the close, dragging the index down to an intra-day low of 186,626.85.
In the morning Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its bullish momentum for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, reaching a new milestone of 189,000 points, driven by strong investor sentiment amid hopes for cut in policy rate. At 10.17 am, the benchmark index was hovering at 189,486.61, recording an increase of 864.83 points or 0.46 percent.
Out of 562 companies, share prices of 238 companies recorded gains, while 166 declined and 158 remained unchanged.
Buying momentum was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks ARL, KE, MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, NBP, and UBL traded in the green.
Investor sentiment stayed positive, fueled by rising expectations of a possible interest rate cut. Market participants are now anticipating a 50-basis-point reduction in the upcoming monetary policy review on January 26.
Economic experts attributed the market’s upward momentum primarily to buying by local mutual funds.
In a key development, repatriation of profits and dividends by foreign investors rose sharply 27% in the first half of the current fiscal year (FY26), highlighting stronger earnings outflows from Pakistan.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that foreign companies operating in the country repatriated $1.559 billion in profits and dividends during the period from July to December of FY26, compared to $1.226 billion in the same period last year (FY25).
Earlier on Tuesday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its upward momentum and closed bullish, gaining 860.09 points, a rise of 0.46 percent, to settle at 188,621.78 points.
During the session, the ready market recorded a trading volume of 1,225.807 million shares with a traded value of Rs 63.897 billion, against 1,198.656 million shares valuing Rs 63.800 billion in the previous session. Market capitalization increased to Rs 21.305 trillion from Rs 21.195 trillion a day earlier.
Hascol Petroleum topped the volume chart with 113.003 million shares, followed by K-Electric Limited with 70.448 million shares and Treet Corporation with 58.611 million shares.
Reporter: Ahsan Abbasi