The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a frantic sell-off during the trading hours, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 1000 points in intraday trading.
After opening trade at 44,691.69 points, the market showcased bearish sentiments, with the KSE-100 index losing over 1000 points in the day. At 1:16 pm, the local bourse was trading at 44,132 points.
The Assistant Vice President at JS Global, Muhammad Waqas Ghani, told ProPakistani,
The day started with news of heightened tension between Russia and Ukraine and then Russia officially launching its intervention in Ukraine. Global markets were already in red when the trading session at PSX started which also followed the same trend and dropped 900+ points in the first few minutes. Commodity prices have also been triggered because of the Ukraine-Russia situation where Brent Oil has crossed the US$100 mark and Gold is up 1.6 percent.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) flinched after the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine on Thursday (today), signaling the start of a conflict in Europe over Russia’s demands for a stop to NATO’s expansionist policy.
Economic analyst, A. A. H. Soomro, told ProPakistani,
The war fear is reverberating across the markets. For PSX, the worries are more on the energy markets. It’s not that Russia and Ukraine are top exporting destinations, but fears of inflation might put pressure on PKR and nudge SBP to tighten. That’s the fear. Hopefully, it will bottom out with oil prices peaking out.
Oil prices surpassed $100 for the first time in more than seven years during the early hours today after President Putin announced his intention to invade Ukraine. Brent jumped to $102.95 a barrel as fears of a full-scale conflict in Eastern Europe intensified, and WTI reached $95.54 a barrel.
At the time of press, Brent crude hit $103.4 a barrel in mid-day Asia trade — the highest since September 2014, up by $6.63. Consequently, the US Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by $5.92 to $98.02 a barrel after reaching a high of $96.51 earlier today.
This is an intra-day market update.Â
