Daily Times

The 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned around to bearish trend on Friday, losing 1,721.97 points, a negative change of 2.10 percent, closing at 80,117.89 points against 81,839.86 points on the last working day.

A total of 479,000,434 shares were traded during the day as compared to 470,310,927 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 27.851 billion against Rs 25.349 billion on the last trading day.

Around 446 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 91 of them recorded gains and 305 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 50 companies remained unchanged. The three top trading companies were Waves Home Applications with 36,876,803 shares at Rs 10.07 per share, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim with 30,672,200 shares at Rs 41.03 per share and Pak Elektron with 24,821,611 shares at Rs26.38 per share. Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 52.03 per share price, closing at Rs 630.00, whereas the runner-up was Khyber Textile Mills Limited with a Rs 30.94 rise in its per share price to Rs 363.08. Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 144.43 per share closing at Rs 7,585.57, followed by Nestle Pakistan Limited with a Rs143.47 decline to close at Rs.7,005.00.

Asian Shares: Asian shares retreated Friday after a broad washout across Wall Street dragged U.S. stocks lower, and Hong Kong´s benchmark fell more than 2% as investors remained wary over China´s plans for helping its ailing property sector.

U.S. futures rose while oil prices declined. Chinese officials briefed reporters in Beijing on the outcome of a top-level meeting of the ruling Communist Party, providing some details of the sweeping blueprint it endorsed for making China a leader in technology, building its financial markets and raising living standards.

But the raft of information remained relatively vague, though more details are expected in the weeks to come. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 2.1% to 17,401.86 and the Shanghai Composite index was 0.1% lower, at 2,974.62.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% to 39,979.79, while South Korea’s Kospi shed 1.6% to 2,778.31. Australia´s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1% to 7,949.50.

In Taiwan, the Taiex fell 1.8%, as computer chip-maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s shares sank 2.4%, extending losses triggered by a report that Washington might double-down on restrictions on sales to China of semiconductors and equipment used to make and test them.

TSMC’s U.S.-traded shares rose 0.4% on Thursday after the industry giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It bounced back from its loss of 8% the prior day, but only after swerving between gains and losses.

The rout in the tech sector this week has dragged markets in the U.S. and Asia lower after a bout of strong gains.

On Thursday, European indexes were mixed after the European Central Bank held its main interest rate steady.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 0.8% to 5,544.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3% to 40,665.02, and the Nasdaq sank 0.7% to 17,871.22.

As they did the day before, when the Nasdaq tumbled to its worst loss since 2022, several Big Tech stocks led the market lower. Drops of 2% for Apple, 2.2% for Amazon and 0.7% for Microsoft were three of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.

But chip makers’ shares stabilized. Nvidia rose 2.9% and stretched its gain for the year to nearly 145%.

Earlier this year, a climb for Nvidia and some of the other handful of stocks that came to be known as the “Magnificent Seven” may have been enough to prop up the rest of the market as their stock prices rocketed amid a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, even as other stocks struggled under the weight of higher interest rates and slowing economic growth.

Thursday´s losses hit many corners of the market. Smaller stocks, which had been cranking higher after badly lagging their larger rivals, fell more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index lost 1.8% after jumping more than 1% in five of the last six days.

The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 fell, with Domino´s Pizza logging the sharpest loss, dropping 13.6% despite topping analysts´ expectations for profit in the spring. The pizza chain temporarily suspended its forecast for how many stores it will open globally over the long term. Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other chains, sank 3%. It said it would buy the Chuy´s Tex-Mex chain in an all-cash deal valuing it at $605 million. Chuy´s stock jumped 47.8%.