Market jitters hit KSE-100, index down 13,000 midday

2026-03-02 - 07:04

After an early crash followed by a market halt, the KSE-100 benchmark index resumed trading, recovering slightly by 11am but continuing to show signs of volatility. As trading began Monday following a weekend marred by geopolitical instability, the market crashed by over 15,000 points, causing the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to halt trading. According to Chief Executive Officer Topline Securities Mohammed Sohail, the “market overreacted initially amid selling by a few funds and leveraged players”. As trading resumed around 10:30am, the index was down 12,334.88 points from its previous close of 168,062.16 points, marking a fall of 7.34 per cent. Sohail added that after the halt, some buying was seen as investors realised the market had already fallen by 20 per cent from its recent peak and had attractive values. By 11:07am, the market recovered more, with the index down 9,164.62 points, marking a fall of 5.45pc. However, by 11:45am the market was trading in the red, down 13,360 points. The sharp plunge comes as regional geopolitical tensions spiked over the weekend as the United States and Israel on Saturday launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with US President Donald Trump announcing the start of “major combat operations”. The tensions have caused Brent to jump 6.4pc to $77.57 a barrel by early Monday, though it had briefly topped $82.00 at one stage, while US crude climbed 6.2pc to $71.17 per barrel. Safe-haven gold rose 1.6pc to $5,360 an ounce on Monday. Graph courtesy of the Pakistan Stock Exchange. More to follow