Stocks tumble as KSE-100 sheds more than 1,400 points

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 Index closed lower on Thursday, shedding 1,437.04 points, 0.92 per cent, after a highly volatile trading session. The decline followed a turbulent start to the day. At the open, the market had dropped more than 1,700 points by 9:55am before staging a brief recovery, rising 968.93 points later in the morning. During the session, the index recorded an intraday high of 157,080.28 points and a low of 153,503.70 points, highlighting sharp swings in investor sentiment. Trading volume stood at 202,928,283 shares at a value of 20,373,653,824. The volatility comes as global oil prices surged more than 9 per cent, pushing crude back above $100 a barrel after fresh Iranian strikes on energy supplies and infrastructure in the Middle East overshadowed a record stockpile release by the International Energy Agency. Brent crude jumped 9.3pc to $100.50, while West Texas Intermediate rose 8.8pc to $94.92 at around 03:05 GMT. Similar volatility was seen in Wednesday’s session, when the index ultimately slipped 318.65 points, or 0.2pc, to close in the red after gaining nearly 2,000 points during intraday trading. Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday confirmed that its mission could not reach a staff level agreement (SLA) on the third review of the country’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the second review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) despite considerable progress, and that negotiations would continue.