KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bloodbath on Thursday, with the benchmark index losing over 1,300 points amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Investors resorted to a dump-and-run approach after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a military operation in eastern Ukraine on Thursday in what appeared to be the start of war in Europe over Russia’s demands for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion.
The development also pushed oil over $100, raising inflationary concerns for a net-importer like Pakistan. Oil breached $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 as Russia moved troops into Ukraine, sparking concerns that a war in Europe could disrupt global energy supplies.
The KSE-100 remained in the red zone throughout the day, recording its intraday low at 43,791.31 after shedding 1,341.61 points. At close, the KSE-100 finished with a drop of 1,302.41 points or 2.89% to finish at 43,830.51.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 2,333.50 points to end at 70,635.12, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 817.68 points, settling at 30,062.34. Shares of 377 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 36 registered an increase, 317 recorded a fall, and 24 remained unchanged.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 350.06 million from 186.35 million on Wednesday. The value of shares traded increased to Rs8.75 billion from Rs6.80 billion recorded in the previous session.
Flying Cement (R) was the volume leader with 38.42 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 33.14 million shares, and Hum Network with 20.48 million shares.
