PSX falls over 2,000 points amid escalating regional tensions

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came under selling pressure on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing more than 2,000 points during intraday trading as renewed tensions between the United States and Iran affected investor sentiment.

According to the PSX website, the market opened on a bearish note, with the KSE-100 Index falling 2,046 points during early trade to a low of 168,432.45. Selling pressure persisted during the session, and by 2:28 pm, the index was hovering at 168,706.98, down 1,771.96 points, or 1.04%, from the previous close.

Selling was recorded across major sectors, including apparel, automobile assemblers, automobile parts & accessories, cement producers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, pharma, oil marketing companies, power producers and refineries.

Monday’s decline followed losses recorded during the previous week, when tensions between the United States and Iran raised concerns over regional stability and movements in international oil prices.

The KSE-100 Index lost 3,483.87 points, or 2%, on a week-on-week basis to close the previous week at 170,478.94 points.

Global stocks also declined on Monday as fresh hostilities in the Middle East pushed up oil prices ​and as investors rushed out of the hottest AI-linked shares on fears that the bull run has gone too far, too fast.

The ‌twin triggers for the tech rout were last week's disappointing outlook at chipmaker Broadcom and a surprisingly strong U.S. jobs report on Friday that has traders pricing in a rate hike from the Federal Reserve this year.

Escalating conflict in the Middle East is also hurting sentiment after Israel said it struck military targets in western and central Iran, pushing Brent crude futures 5% ​higher.

In Asia, the decline in equity markets was starker. South Korea's chip-heavy KOSPI (.KS11), opens new tab, the world's best-performing market this year, led losses with an 8.3% slide that has the benchmark down over 16% from last week's record high.

Japan's Nikkei fell almost 4% with market darlings across the computer-chip production supply ​chain falling furthest, while Taiwan's benchmark sank 3.5%.

Nasdaq futures were attempting a recovery following a sharp selloff on Friday when the index dropped 4.2%.

Europe's STOXX 600 was down 0.8% on Monday. Major bourses ⁠in Frankfurt, Paris and London were down between 0.4% and 1%.

Europe's relative lack of a technology hardware sector and greater exposure to energy prices have meant ​its major markets have largely taken a back seat in the rally that has gripped Wall Street, Tokyo and Seoul, but it also makes the region ​more insulated than other markets to a sharp selloff in the tech space.