Business
PSX tumbles over 900 points | The Express Tribune
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a sharp bearish session on Friday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 179,603.73, down 908.91 points or approximately 0.50% from the previous day’s close.
This decline extended a two-day correction, with cumulative losses exceeding 3,400 points over the period amid persistent selling pressure across major sectors.
Trading commenced on a volatile note, with the index dipping sharply intraday to as low as around 178,237 before partial recovery in late sessions. Heavy offloading was evident in banking, fertiliser, energy (including oil & gas exploration and marketing companies), cement, and power generation stocks.
Market turnover remained robust, with over 708 million shares traded valued at nearly Rs39 billion, indicating active participation despite the downturn.
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Analysts attributed the sell-off to profit-taking after the index’s strong run-up earlier in 2026 (peaking near 191,000 in January), coupled with concerns over overvaluation in select counters and potential retail outflows if corrections deepen.
Topline market review stated that continuing its negative momentum, KSE-100 Index largely traded in the negative zone during the trading session to settle at 179,604 level (down by -0.50%). This negativity in the market can be attributed to ongoing results sessions, where corporate results have fallen short of investors’ expectations.
The top negative contribution to the index came from LUCK, UBL, OGDC, SYS, EFERT and ENGROH, as they cumulatively weighed down on the index by -685 points.
Traded value-wise, OGDC (Rs4.1b), PPL (Rs3b), NBP (Rs2.7b), LUCK (Rs1.87b), ENGROH (Rs1.7b) and SYS (Rs1.55b) dominated the trading activity. Traded volume and value for the day stood at 706mn shares and USD.38.8mn, respectively.
It is thought that thousands of people may have lost their jobs at Oracle, one of the world’s largest tech companies.
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The US-Israel Iran war has halted almost all traffic in a key waterway and the price Brent crude has surged.
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Crunch talks between resident doctors and the Government are set to continue in a bid to avert strike action.
Sir Keir Starmer has given the resident doctors committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) a deadline to reconsider a deal on pay and jobs which includes an offer of thousands of extra NHS training posts.
It is understood the proposal will be removed from the deal if resident doctors in England press ahead with a six-day strike from April 7 in a row over jobs and pay.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the resident doctors committee of the union, said: “It is wrong for Government to withhold desperately-needed jobs as part of negotiating tactics.
“Anyone who works in the NHS knows that patients need these 4,000 jobs created as soon as possible.
“We made that very clear to Government in our meetings today.
“We are not interested in arbitrary deadlines – we will be looking to get this dispute ended right up to the last minute.
“We believe there is a deal there to be done if Government is willing to withdraw the changes it made at the last minute that reduced the funding for pay rises. Talks continue.”
It comes as senior medics announced they were escalating their disputes with the Government.
Consultants and other senior doctors are to be balloted on industrial action after ministers announced they would be getting a 3.5% pay award.
Simultaneous ballots of consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors will run from May 11 until July 6.
Addressing resident doctors, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote in The Times: “The truth is this: no-one benefits from rejecting this deal.
“Resident doctors will be worse off. Instead of improved pay, progression and support, they will receive the standard pay award this year, with none of the reforms that would have strengthened their working lives.”
The deal sets out a minimum of 4,000 new additional specialty posts to be delivered over the next three years.
NHS England boss Sir Jim Mackey confirmed the offer to expand training places will “come off the table” if an agreement is not reached.
The walkout, which is due to run from 7am on April 7 until 6.59am on April 13, will be the 15th round of strikes by resident doctors in England since 2023.
In a letter to health leaders, Mike Prentice, national director for emergency planning at NHS England, wrote: “We expect this round to be challenging as there is a shorter notice period, bank holidays within the notice period and the action itself falling during the Easter holidays.
“This will represent a significant strain on staffing resources to provide safe cover.”
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