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KARACHI: Volatility persisted on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the second straight session on Tuesday.
Despite a positive start, the market came under renewed selling pressure as nervous investors continued to offload their positions amid a dearth of positive triggers, reflected in a surge in trading volume to over 1.5 billion shares.
According to Topline Securities Ltd, the PSX witnessed a tug of war between the bulls and bears, with the index swinging to an intraday high of 657 points before slipping to an intraday low of 1,103 points.
Despite early attempts at a rebound, the bears ultimately seized control as the benchmark index closed at 160,935.13 — down by 752.05 points or 0.47 per cent.
With international markets trading in the red, the local bourse followed suit. At the same time, a lack of fresh positive news flows prompted investors to trim positions and book profits, keeping sentiment cautious throughout the session.
Index-heavy stocks, including Pioneer Cement, Pakistan Oilfield, Pakistan Services, DG Khan Cement and Pakistan Telecommunication Company, posted notable gains, collectively contributing 206 points to the benchmark. On the flip side, Engro Holdings, Meezan Bank, Bank Al-Habib and United Bank together dragged the index lower by 360 points.
Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, observed that the persistent selling pressure reversed the early bullish momentum, pushing the index to an intraday low of 160,584.
In the absence of any notable positive catalyst, investors opted to trim positions, leading to broad-based profit-taking since the week commenced.
Despite the bearish close, market activity strengthened considerably. The trading volume surged 27.29pc to 1.54 billion shares, while the traded value fell 6.09pc to Rs38.8bn.
WorldCall Telecom continued its dominance on the volume charts with 459 million shares traded.
Analysts feel momentum at PSX was weakening, with the market facing selling headwinds at intraday highs, once again dragging the KSE100 index back toward the 160,000 zone.
Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2025
