Stocks tumble as KSE-100 sheds more than 1,300 points

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index was trading in the red by early afternoon on Thursday, down 1,376.16 points as of 1:22pm.

The decline follows a volatile start to the session. At the open, the market had dropped more than 1,700 points by 9:55am before rebounding, rising 968.93 points.

So far during the session, the index has recorded an intraday high of 157,080.28 points and a low of 153,503.70 points, underscoring the sharp swings in investor sentiment.

The volatility comes in the wake of oil prices surging more than 9 per cent to break back above $100 a barrel after fresh Iranian strikes on supplies and infrastructure in the Middle East overshadowed a record release of stockpiles 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 swings were seen in Wednesday’s session, when the index ultimately slipped 8.65 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.

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