Stocks extend losses as profit-taking drags KSE-100 down nearly 600 points

Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 shedding nearly 600 points as investors opted to secure profits following recent gains, during the opening minutes of trading on Thursday.

At 10:30am, the benchmark index was hovering at 165,968.70, a decrease of 584.57 points or 0.35%.

Selling was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including, ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, POL, PPL, HBL, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red.

On Wednesday, PSX witnessed a volatile and largely bearish session. The benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped by 793.56 points, or 0.47%, to settle at 166,553.28 points.

Internationally, Asian stocks fell for a second day on Thursday as lacklustre earnings reports from tech mega cap stocks deepened a selloff on Wall Street, while U.S. sanctions against Russia and China revived fears around geopolitics. Oil prices surged.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last off 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.5%.

Chinese stocks declined 0.4% in Hong Kong after Reuters reported the White House is considering a plan to curb an array of software-powered exports to China to retaliate against Beijing’s latest round of rare earth export restrictions.

S&P 500 e-mini futures edged up 0.1% after a second day of declines for U.S. stocks overnight as earnings reports from tech megacaps underwhelmed analysts on Wall Street.

Netflix shares fell more than 10% on Wednesday as the streaming giant’s outlook for the coming quarter left investors nonplussed.

Tesla shares fell 3.8% in after-hours trading after reporting profit that failed to live up to analysts’ expectations, despite record third-quarter revenue that beat estimates.

This is an intra-day update