PSX sheds over 2,900 points as bears return to stock market

KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish trend on Friday amid selling pressure on last day of the business week amid escalating Middle East tensions.

During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index plunged by 2,979.74 points to drop to 158,230.93 points, reflecting a negative change of 1.85 points compared to previous close of 161,210.67 points.

Meanwhile, Asia stocks fell on Friday and were headed for their sharpest weekly drop in six years while oil prices were poised for their biggest jump in four in a turbulent week for global markets as the conflict in the Middle East showed few signs of easing.

Investors sought the safety of cash as they sobered up to the fact that the U.S.-Israel war on Iran could drag on longer than initially anticipated.

A day earlier, the benchmark index turned around to bullish trend, gaining 5,433.46 points, a positive change of 3.49 percent, closing at 161,210.68 points against 155,777.21 points on the last trading day.

A total of 723,879,788 shares were traded during the day as compared to 622,692,153 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 35.179 billion against Rs 29.950 billion on the last trading day.

As many as 478 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 350 of them recorded gains and 78 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 50 companies remained unchanged.