KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came under renewed selling pressure on Wednesday as nervous investors opted to take profits at available margins, amid a deepening of uncertainty in the Middle East due to disturbing geopolitical developments that hurt market sentiment, dragging the benchmark KSE-100 index below the 170,000-point intraday level.

Topline Securities Ltd said the benchmark KSE-100 index ended the session lower, closing at 170,190.64 points, down 831.13 points or 0.49 per cent from the previous close of 171,021.77. The index traded in a wide intraday range, touching a high of 171,624 before sliding to a low of 169,790, reflecting persistent selling pressure throughout the session.

The decline was largely driven by profit-taking and cautious investor sentiment amid a lack of fresh positive triggers. Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, particularly the absence of a conclusive US-Iran peace agreement and its impact on global oil prices, further dampened market confidence.

On the index contribution front, heavyweight scrips bore the brunt of the selling, with Lucky Cement, United Bank, Meezan Bank, Engro Holdings, and Hub Power collectively dragging the benchmark down by approximately 343 points.

On the economic front, the country’s trade deficit for May narrowed by 14pc year-on-year and 39pc month-on-month to $2.58 billion. Exports increased by 1pc year-on-year and 10pc month-on-month to $2.70bn. Monthly imports clocked in at $5.28bn, down 7pc year-on-year and 21pc month-on-month. This takes the 11MFY26 deficit to $34.7bn, up 17pc year-on-year.

Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said investor sentiment remained cautious as a lack of meaningful progress on the US-Iran diplomatic front kept market momentum fragile. With no clear direction emerging on a potential peace deal, investors largely stayed on the sidelines, resulting in a range-bound yet negative trading session.

On the corporate front, OGDC announced an oil discovery at Bobi Deep-1 in Sanghar, Sindh. With a cent per cent working interest, the discovery is expected to contribute approximately Rs1.67 per share to the company’s earnings annually.

Market participation remained stable, with traded volume at 552m shares. However, traded value dipped 13.42pc to R23.7bn. Treet Battery Ltd led the volume chart with 46.6m shares.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2026