Karachi
\nSelling pressure was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 1,141 points during the trading session on Monday.
\nThe KSE-100 started the session with some positivity, hitting an intra-day high of 78,330.10.
\nHowever, selling pressure helped the bears hold ground and pushed the index into the negative territory.
\nAt close, the benchmark index settled at 77,084.49, down by 1,141.50 points or 1.46%.
\n\u201cThe significant drop was primarily due to investor skepticism as global stock markets tumbled,\u201d brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said in its post-market report.
\nTopline Securities said the downturn was largely influenced by declines in the power, E&P, IT and banking sectors, with key contributors such as HUBC, HBL, POL, SYS, and BAHL accounting for a combined 484-point drop.
\nExperts said investors were stoked by fears of recession in the US economy.
\nDuring the previous week, the PSX remained highly volatile due to selling pressure on investor concerns over political noise in the country.
\nThe benchmark KSE-100, after moving in both directions, closed in positive at 78,225.98 points, slightly up by 196.47 points on week-on-week basis.
\nDuring the week, Fitch raised Pakistan\u2019s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) to \u2018CCC+\u2019 from \u2018CCC\u2019 earlier while S&P maintained Pakistan\u2019s rating at \u2018CCC+\u2019 for long-term sovereign credit rating and \u2018C\u2019 short-term rating.
\nGlobally, Tokyo led a collapse across Asian equities Monday, while the yen hit a six-month high after weak US jobs data fanned fears of a recession in the world\u2019s top economy and boosted bets on several Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
\nTrading boards showed a sea of red following another hefty day of losses on Wall Street, where heavyweight tech firms including Amazon and Microsoft took the brunt owing to worries an AI-fuelled rally this year may have been overdone.
\nA much-anticipated report Friday showed the US economy added just 114,000 jobs last month, well down from June and far fewer than expected, while the jobless rate rose to the highest level since October 2021.
\nThe news came a day after lacklustre factory data that stoked concerns that Fed officials may have held borrowing costs at more than two-decade highs too long.
\nThat has led to speculation the economy could be in for a hard landing and tip into recession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karachi Selling pressure was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 1,141 points during the trading session on Monday. The KSE-100 started the session with some positivity, hitting an intra-day high of 78,330.10. However, selling pressure helped the bears hold ground and pushed the index into the negative territory. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n