KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Tuesday’s session on a negative note as a 100-basis-point policy rate hike weighed on investor sentiment, who were worried that the central bank’s monetary tightening would dent business activities.

During the trading session, the benchmark KSE-100 index touched the intra-day high of 169,314 and low of 168,171. Ultimately, it lost 1,085.12 points, or 0.64%, to close at 168,412.23. Stocks remained under pressure since the opening bell, extending the previous session’s bearish momentum in an otherwise quiet trading environment as investors continued to absorb the impact of the State Bank’s decision to raise its policy rate by 100 basis points.

Selling remained relentless in sectors such as automobile assemblers, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing companies and power generation, dragging the index lower.

Arif Habib Limited (AHL), in its report, noted that the spillover impact of a larger-than-expected hike in interest rate kept the market under pressure throughout the day. On the benchmark index, 29 stocks rose while 70 fell, with Engro Holdings (+0.97%), Pakistan Tobacco (+8.52%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+1.39%) contributing the most to the day’s gains. On the other side, UBL (-2.25%), Fauji Fertiliser Company (-1.5%) and Pakistan Petroleum (-1.36%) were the biggest index drags.

Among geopolitical developments, US President Donald Trump convened his national security team to discuss Iran’s proposal to end the Middle East war, now in its third month, with signals that Tehran may consider an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for Washington ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

Nishat Power (-5.17%) reported 9MFY26 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs4.69 and dividend per share of Rs1.5, while Nishat Chunian Power (-6.67%) posted 9MFY26 EPS of Rs4.3 and dividend of Rs1.5. Both earnings were largely in line with expectations, though some participants had anticipated a blowout result, triggering post-announcement selling. Market participants are now eyeing a potential rebound, expecting the index to resume its rally in the current week with a target of 175k in the coming weeks, AHL wrote.

According to KTrade Securities’ equity trader Ahmed Sheraz, the KSE-100 index closed down 1,085 points (-0.64%) in what turned out to be a muted, directionless session. Price action remained choppy, with the market lacking conviction on either side, which reinforced the ongoing range-bound behaviour, as participants largely stayed cautious. Activity picked up in terms of KSE-100 volumes that came in at 592 million shares. Selling pressure was primarily caused by heavyweight names across commercial banks, cement firms, and select index movers. These included UBL, Fauji Fertiliser, Pakistan Petroleum, Lucky Cement, NBP, and Sazgar Engineering. Upside support was largely absent, highlighting the weak underlying breadth despite intermittent bouts of activity.

Additionally, macro triggers failed to shift sentiment meaningfully as the policy rate hike appeared largely priced in, while rising oil prices near $110 per barrel did not spark fresh selling, indicating some sort of resilience, Sheraz said.

Echoing similar observations, Topline Securities wrote that the local bourse witnessed a lacklustre session, reeling from the aftershocks of the State Bank’s hawkish move, as the central bank raised its policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.5%. The surprise monetary tightening weighed on investor sentiment, which triggered cautious positioning and broad-based profit-taking across key sectors.

The benchmark index remained under pressure throughout the session, sliding to the intra-day low of 1,326 points before settling at 168,412, down 1,085 points (-0.64%), as higher rates dampened risk appetite and curtailed near-term equity allure. Overall trading volume increased to 1.19 billion shares from Monday’s total of 780.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day stood at Rs34.5 billion.

Shares of 482 companies were traded. Of these, 168 rose, 284 fell and 30 remained unchanged. Cnergyico PK topped the volume chart with trading in 265.6 million shares, rising Rs0.68 to close at Rs8.73. Foreign investors sold shares worth Rs20.3 million, the National Clearing Company reported.