The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a sharp downturn on Friday as escalating tensions involving Iran, the United States and Israel triggered heavy selling pressure in the market.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped by 3,714 points during the trading session. At one point, the index plunged by as much as 4,060 points before recovering slightly to close at 157,496 points.
Market analysts said investors reacted nervously to the growing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, prompting widespread selling across key sectors.
During the session, selling pressure was observed in major sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, power generation and refineries.
Major stocks such as Hubco, Mari Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, MCB Bank, Meezan Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank Limited also remained in the negative zone.
The sharp decline came a day after the market witnessed strong bullish momentum on Thursday when the KSE-100 index surged by 5,433.46 points, or 3.49 percent, to close at 161,210.68 points.
Market observers said investors have started moving towards cash and safer assets amid concerns that a potential conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel could last longer than initially expected, increasing uncertainty in global financial markets.
