KSE-100 today: PSX falls 1,494 points by Friday prayers after 4-day rally
The KSE-100 was at 173,886 at the Friday prayer break, down 0.85%, a day after reclaiming 175,000. Why it fell and which sectors were sold.
The KSE-100 gave back part of its big week on Friday, 6 November. When trading paused for Friday prayers at 12:05 PM, the index stood at 173,885.77, down 1,494.09 points or 0.85% from Thursday’s close of 175,379.86, according to the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s own data.
At its worst point of the morning it touched 172,809.89, more than 2,500 points below Thursday’s close, before buyers pulled it part of the way back. The high of the session was 174,329.76.
Why the market slipped
Market participants put the morning’s weakness down to profit-taking after four straight days of gains, along with caution over the economy and the region. Selling was heaviest in blue-chip banking, cement and energy shares. Around 112 million shares worth Rs7.38 billion had changed hands by the break.
The drop follows one of the market’s best days in weeks. On Thursday the index jumped 3,366 points, or 1.96%, and closed above 175,000 for the first time since 1 September. Ali Najib, deputy head of trading at Arif Habib Ltd, linked that rally to the slide in oil: WTI fell below $87 a barrel and Brent to $96 from $102. Volume on Thursday was close to a billion shares.
The AI sell-off abroad
Pakistan’s market is also trading in a nervous world. Wall Street’s technology stocks fell hard after the US midterm elections, which handed Congress to the Democrats, as investors worried about a backlash against AI data centres; the sell-off then spread to Asian markets, where chip makers Samsung and SK Hynix lost around 10% and 12%.
PSX has few technology shares, so the direct hit is small. The bigger link is oil: cheaper crude eases Pakistan’s import bill, and analysts tied Thursday’s rally to it, while any jump in prices on renewed US-Iran tension would work the other way.
What to watch
Trading resumes after the prayer break, and the closing number will show whether buyers return before the weekend. Even after the fall, the index is still about 1,870 points above Wednesday’s close of around 172,014.
This is information, not investment advice.
