Overview
- The KSE-100 closed at about 171,943, down roughly 698 points for a third straight losing session on Wednesday.
- Escalating US–Iran attacks pushed Brent above $100 per barrel and disrupted Gulf shipping, triggering late-session selling and raising risk aversion.
- Selling was concentrated in commercial banks, cement and fertiliser stocks with heavy names such as Fauji Fertiliser, MCB Bank, Lucky Cement and Meezan Bank leading losses.
- Market activity slowed sharply as volumes fell to about 477.7 million shares from 722.6 million the prior session and the value of trades dropped to Rs22.6 billion.
- August remittances rose 17% to $3.7 billion, which offers some support to the external account, but analysts say elevated oil and the ongoing corporate results season make further volatility likely and could pressure inflation and external balances.