Karachi, October 6, 2025 – The KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a sharp decline on Monday, plunging by almost 3,000 points during intraday trading as investors engaged in heavy profit-taking across multiple sectors.
At 1:50 PM, the index had dropped by 2,919 points, or 1.37%, to trade at 166,071 points compared to Friday’s record closing of 168,990 points. The sudden downturn in the KSE-100 index followed weeks of bullish activity that had pushed the market to an all-time high, sparking cautious selling among traders.
Market analysts attributed the fall primarily to profit-taking, while concerns over the rising trade deficit and persistent inflation also dampened investor confidence. Selling pressure was particularly evident in major sectors such as automobile assemblers, cement, banking, oil and gas exploration, power generation, and refineries.
Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, SSGC, SNGP, MCB, MEBL, and UBL, all traded deep in the red, dragging down the overall index performance.
Despite Monday’s correction, analysts remain optimistic about the medium-term outlook. According to JS Global Capital, the KSE-100 index had earlier recorded its best nine-month performance since 2009, driven by investor optimism, improving macroeconomic indicators, and strong corporate earnings.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Pakistan now ranks as the world’s second-fastest nation in reducing sovereign default risk, behind only Türkiye—a development that may help restore market confidence once the current wave of correction stabilizes.