KARACHI:

What began as early selling quickly turned into a full-scale market washout at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, as investors rushed to offload shares following renewed military tensions between the United States and Iran.

The benchmark KSE-100 index remained under severe pressure throughout the session, losing more than 1,700 points amid fears that the conflict could disrupt global energy supplies and push oil prices higher. Trading was underway at the time of filing this report.

The selling started immediately after the opening bell, with the KSE-100 index falling to 180,392.40 points, down 1,849.37 points (1.01%), by 9:39am. The decline deepened by 10:00am, when the benchmark slipped to 180,297.29 points, reflecting a loss of 1,944.48 points (1.07%), before recovering some ground later in the morning.

By 11:29am, the index had improved to 180,412.64 points, though it was still down 1,829.13 points (1.00%). At 1:09pm, the benchmark index stood at 180,513.45, down 1,728.32 points (0.95%), while the latest market data showed the KSE-100 at 180,540.96, lower by 1,700.81 points (0.93%).

During the session, the market touched an intraday high of 180,744.71 and a low of 179,448.52, with 249.31 million shares changing hands in transactions worth Rs15.56 billion. 

The sharp decline came after oil prices jumped more than 3% on Monday following renewed military strikes between the United States and Iran, reigniting concerns over crude supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil shipments.

The surge in oil prices and growing geopolitical uncertainty dampened investor sentiment, triggering broad-based selling across the market.