Bears took over the trade floor at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as shares traded sideways before plunging 1,200 points in intraday trade.

The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 1216.86 points, or 1.07 per cent, to stand at 112,963.64 at 12:17pm from the last close of 114,180.50 points.

Awais Ashraf, director research at AKD Securities, said, “The KSE-100 index is under pressure as commercial bank share prices decline amid expectations of higher taxes, either through a change in the ADR [advance-to-deposit ratio] definition or a direct increase in corporate tax rates.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Fertiliser and Exploration & Production [E&P) sectors continued to perform, providing support to the index by contributing over 500 points.

Yousuf M. Farooq, director research at Chase Securities, said that market was “taking a breather after a huge rally”.

“Corrections are normal and retail investors should ignore short-term fluctuations and focus on the long-term,” he stressed.

A day ago, shares at the PSX continued their record-setting streak as the KSE-100 index climbed more than 3,000 points to surpass the 114,000 mark, which one analyst had noted to be its third highest gain ever.

Over the past 18 months, the benchmark index has gone from trading at the 40,000 mark to over 112,000 with returns noted at 180pc.

More to follow