KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) failed to break the bearish spell extended from the previous week as investors preferred to stay under-invested to pass the upcoming three-day holiday for Eid. The market also remained under pressure regarding the country’s foreign diplomatic issues with Afghanistan and fruitless round at Doha talks.
The KSE-100 Index started the day with an attempt at recovery and managed to push the index in positive territory. However, the selling pressure proved much stronger that pulled down the market back in negative by midday. The KSE-100 Index was trading at 47,790.8 points at 1:00 pm, 43.45 points down from the closing on Friday.
The situation in Afghanistan is a big concern for Pakistani investors due to which they are cautious, traders and analysts said.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan has reached Islamabad after Kabul called back its ambassador and senior diplomats, citing security concerns, reports local media. He was given a demarche by the Afghan foreign ministry in response to the alleged kidnapping of the ambassador’s daughter in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, the latest round of talks between the Afghan government and Taliban in Doha ended without any progress on Sunday despite the group’s supreme leader throwing his weight behind a political settlement to the conflict.
