PSX reverses early rise, slides more than 1,100 points as selling returns

According to the PSX website, the market opened with buying interest, lifting the key index by over 900 points, but this advance faded as profit-taking emerged and investors adjusted positions. By the time markets neared the mid-day break, the benchmark had retreated into negative territory, reflecting broad-based selling across major sectors.

During the intraday trade, the benchmark index fell to the day's lowest level of 180,783.62, plunging over 1700 points. The market closed at 181,456.33 points, down by 1,113.48 points, or 0.61%, from the previous close of 182,569.81.

The sell-off was broad-based, with declines seen across automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies, power generation and refinery stocks. Index-heavy names, including ARL, MARI, POL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL traded in the red during the session.

On Wednesday, the Government of Pakistan and SC Financial Technologies LLC signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on next-generation digital payment systems and cross-border financial innovations. SC Financial Technologies is an affiliate of World Liberty Financial USA (WLF), described as the primary cryptocurrency business of the Trump family.

Oil and gold prices eased on Thursday after a sharp increase the day before, which was caused by President Trump's threats to Iran.

In Asia, markets were uneven, with tech stocks facing additional pressure. Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.9% after hitting an all-time peak in the previous session, while the broader Topix rose 0.4% to extend its own record high.

Taiwan’s TAIEX was down 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.4%, mainland Chinese blue chips flat, and South Korea’s KOSPI up 0.3% to a fresh record high. In US markets, S&P 500 E-mini futures were down 0.1% after the cash index fell 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1% overnight, the report added.