KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Wednesday’s session on a weak note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 1,580.90 points, or 0.89%, to settle at 176,042.99 amid renewed selling pressure.

The index remained in negative territory for most of the session, moving between an intraday high of 176,935.03 and a low of 175,631.74.

The benchmark had earlier fallen 1,297.67 points, or 0.73%, to 176,326.21 at 9:34am as investors reacted cautiously to mounting geopolitical tensions and uncertain global market cues.

The negative sentiment was reinforced by a sell-off in Asian equities, where concerns over the outlook for artificial intelligence-related investments weighed on investor appetite for risk.

Read: Oil rises as US-Iran tension escalates after Iraq strikes, missile attack

Meanwhile, oil prices jumped more than 4% on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East escalated following United States (US) and Saudi strikes in Iraq and an intercepted Iranian missile attack on US forces, while a decline in US crude inventories also supported prices.

The combination of geopolitical uncertainty, rising energy costs and weak regional market sentiment kept investors cautious, with sustained selling pressure pulling the KSE-100 lower by the close.

Overall, trading volume 574million shares from Tuesday’s total of 958milion. The value of traded shares stood at Rs25.36billion. In the ready market, shares of 495 companies were traded. Of these, 129 stocks rose, 330 fell, and 36 remained unchanged. Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with trading in 58.7million shares, losing Rs0.19 to close at Rs10.76.