\u2018Panic selling\u2019
\nKARACHI
\nThe Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week deep in the red on Monday as escalating US-Iran tensions, which have also roiled global equity markets, triggered panic selling.The PSX\u2019s benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 151,972.99 points, down 16,089.17 points, or -9.57%, from the previous close of 168,062.16, marking its highest ever one-day fall.
\nThe index touched an intraday high of 159,328.59 (down 8,733.57 points, or -7.23%) and a low of 151,747.96 (down 16,314.2 points, or -9.71%), compared with the previous close of 168,062.16. It plunged over 15,000 points to start the session, prompting a trading halt for about an hour under the exchange\u2019s risk-management rule before trading resumed.
\n\u201cDue to panic selling, PSX fell 9%. Leveraged position coupled with Iran and Afghanistan positions added fuel to the fire,\u201d Topline Securities CEO Mohammed Sohail told media. AAH Soomro, an independent investment and economic analyst, said: \u201cThis is panic mode. May last a few days. Keep an eye on Oil. Below 80 should settle the market by Friday.\u201d
\nTrading was halted for 45 minutes till 10:27am before resuming. Military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran showed no sign of lessening, while Iran responded with missile barrages across the region. Topline said the conflict has raised economic risks for Pakistan despite no direct involvement, primarily through the prospect of higher oil prices (given Pakistan\u2019s reliance on imported energy), imported inflation, and weaker investor confidence as tensions flare on both the eastern and western sides of Pakistan.
\nIn the Mid East, the UAE and Kuwait temporarily closed their stock markets citing \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d. For Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures shed 1.4% and DAX futures slid 1.3%. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both lost 0.6%.Meanwhile, oil prices soared as Brent briefly spiked almost 14% and West Texas Intermediate nearly 12% at the start of business after the attack on Iran, which martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.
\nThe bombings have also seen the vital Strait of Hormuz \u2014 through which around 20% of global seaborne oil passes \u2014 effectively shut and several ships attacked, fanning supply fears. In a note, Topline Research warned the Strait of Hormuz risk remains central. Topline said crude prices rose 6\u20137% during Monday\u2019s session and have increased about 15% over the last seven sessions amid heightened volatility.
\nOn inflation, the note said a 10% rise in crude oil prices could lift inflation estimates by 40\u201350 basis points, with indirect effects expected to filter through over subsequent days and weeks.
\nOn the external account, Topline estimated Pakistan\u2019s annual petroleum imports (crude, refined products, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas) at $15\u201316 billion, and said every 10% move in oil prices could add $1.5\u20131.6 billion to the import bill. It also flagged other oil-linked imports such as edible oil ($4 billion), coal ($1 billion) and rubber\/tyres (under $1 billion).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Panic selling\u2019 KARACHI The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week deep in the red on Monday as escalating US-Iran tensions, which have also roiled global equity markets, triggered panic selling.The PSX\u2019s benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 151,972.99 points, down 16,089.17 points, or -9.57%, from the previous close of 168,062.16, marking its highest ever one-day …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":75395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94512,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94501\/revisions\/94512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}