PSX: selling at bourse, KSE-100 down 600 points

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a significant decline on Monday, with the KSE-100 Index shedding more than 600 points. At 10:20am, the benchmark index was trading at 165,812.12, down 597.13 points or 0.36%. Selling pressure was evident across key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and refineries.

Notably, index-heavy stocks such as MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO, SSGC, SNGPL, ARL, MCB, MEBL, NBP, and UBL were trading in the red. This downturn marked a reversal from the previous week, when the PSX had broken its five-week losing streak, with the KSE-100 Index surging by 4,034.37 points, or 2.5%, week-on-week to close at 166,409.25 points.

The renewed optimism stemmed from progress in regional peace talks, which boosted investor risk appetite and sparked broad-based buying across major sectors, reversing the market's prolonged decline. Globally, share markets stabilized in Asia on Monday, as investors awaited Apple's earnings to alleviate concerns over AI cash burn.

Simultaneously, oil prices eased following ongoing talks between Iranian and Qatari mediators. This optimism led to a 0.4% rise in S&P 500 futures and an 0.8% increase in Nasdaq futures. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, lost nearly 7% in October, its worst month since the 'Liberation Day' tariff rout in April 2025. The market's buoyancy was tempered by concerns over negative cash flow and AI capital expenditure, which contributed to a spike in the cost of insuring against corporate defaults last week.

Intel's sharp 29% drop on Friday added to the investors' unease, raising stakes for other chip groups like AMD. Additionally, the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, where a Democratic victory could introduce more political obstacles for data centers, further clouded the market's outlook. Withdrawals from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, added to the air of uncertainty after hackers stole billions from the platform last week.

While Japan's Nikkei declined by 0.1%, the Nikkei was off early lows, and South Korea managed a modest gain of 0.8%, recovering from a 16% slump last month. MSCI's Asia-Pacific index, excluding Japan, slipped by 0.2%. This update reflects an intraday snapshot of the market's performance.