KARACHI: Pakistan’s benchmark stock index, the KSE-100, fell sharply in early trading on Friday, shedding more than 3,100 points and reversing part of the strong gains recorded in the previous session.
By 10:20am, the KSE-100 index had declined by 3,129.83 points, or 1.94 per cent, to 158,080.84 points. The drop came after the index had closed at 161,210.67 points a day earlier following a strong rally.
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The fall follows Thursday’s impressive recovery, when the benchmark index surged by 5,433.46 points to end the day firmly in positive territory. That rally had boosted investor sentiment after recent market uncertainty.
Friday’s trading session, however, began with significant volatility. The index initially plunged around 9:20am before briefly recovering by 9:25am. It then slipped again by 9:34am before regaining some ground around 9:40am. Despite the short-lived rebound, the market soon resumed its downward trend, reflecting cautious investor sentiment.
Several stocks were actively traded during the early session. Shares of K-Electric declined by 2.36 per cent to Rs7.86, with a trading volume of more than 17.2 million shares. Cnergyico PK Limited also slipped 3.58 per cent to Rs6.73, with over 13.6 million shares traded. In contrast, Unity Foods Limited moved higher, gaining 5.06 per cent to Rs9.57 on a trading volume of more than 12.6 million shares.
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Market analysts said the previous session’s sharp rebound had been largely driven by strong institutional buying. Analysts at Topline Securities noted that the market’s 3.49 per cent surge on Thursday reflected renewed confidence after investors viewed the earlier sell-off as an overreaction to regional developments.
Investors are now closely monitoring market trends to determine whether positive sentiment will return or if volatility will continue to dominate trading in the coming sessions.