Pakistan Stock Exchange sheds 718 points after volatile session

After a steep fall a day earlier, stocks at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a rollercoaster session on Friday, with the KSE-100 Index closing over 700 points lower after wiping out some gains in the afternoon rally.

As per the PSX website, trading opened weak and selling pressure quickly took hold, dragging the index down more than 1,800 points to touch an intraday low of 169,512.88. 

The tide turned as the session progressed. Investors moved back into heavyweight stocks during the second half of trading, and by the 2:30 pm, the index had not only recovered some of its losses but surged over 800 points to an intraday high of 172,718.66, a swing of nearly 2,500 points from the day's low.

However, that recovery proved fragile. A fresh wave of profit-taking in the final hours of trade pulled the index back down, erasing most of the earlier gains.

By the close, the KSE-100 settled at 171,021.20 points, down 718.24 points or 0.42% from the previous session.

On Thursday, the benchmark index had dropped 2,690.48 points, or 1.54%, to close at 171,739.45, as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran and a surge in global crude oil prices rattled investors and sparked heavy selling across the board.

Global bond yields stayed near multi-decade highs on Friday, as elevated oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict fuelled concerns over inflation and the possibility of further rate hikes. U.S. and European equities, meanwhile, edged up from this week's lows.

Inflation worries deepened after the U.S. administration announced plans to impose higher tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners. Thirty-year Treasury yields moved closer to their highest level since 2007, while German 10-year Bund yields, the eurozone benchmark, held near their highest since 2011.

The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, recovering part of the previous session's more than 1% decline and remaining on track for a modest weekly gain. Wall Street futures also pointed to a mild rebound following Thursday's losses, with Nasdaq futures up 0.1%. Chipmaker Intel jumped nearly 4% in premarket trading on strong quarterly results, offering some relief to a tech sector that has come under pressure this week amid growing investor unease over massive AI spending that has yet to show clear returns.

Brent crude fell 3% to $97.69 a barrel, pulling back after a 7% overnight surge took it to a two-month high of $102. Attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea threaten to disrupt a second key route for global oil supplies, compounding concerns already raised by Iran's near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.