By our correspondent
KARACHI: Stocks fell on Thursday as a fresh spike in global oil prices stoked inflation fears and prompted profit-taking at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 152,740.37 points, down 1,551.88 points, or 1.01 percent, from Wednesday’s finish of 154,292.25. Intraday, the index ranged between a high of 153,322.96 and a low of 150,728.17.
“PSX is under pressure today due to increased oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict,” said Ahfaz Mustafa, CEO of Ismail Iqbal Securities. He noted that attacks on Qatar’s LNG field had pushed oil up 5 percent, triggering selling in the market. Rising fuel costs and deteriorating macroeconomic conditions also weighed on sentiment.
Qatar’s Ras Laffan hub suffered “extensive damage” after back-to-back Iranian missile strikes, hitting a gas-to-liquids facility and sparking fires across several LNG plants. Authorities said all fires were controlled and no injuries reported.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran against further attacks and threatened to destroy Iran’s South Pars gas field if strikes continued. He added that Israel had targeted South Pars but the US “knew nothing” of the operation. The South Pars/North Dome field, shared by Qatar and Iran, supplies about 70 percent of Iran’s domestic gas.
Supply risks also affected Saudi Arabia. The Ras Tanura refinery, one of the Middle East’s largest, was hit by drone strikes but resumed operations this week. Gulf oil output has fallen from 30 million barrels per day last year to around 20 million, the International Energy Agency said.
Aramco’s president warned the conflict could have “catastrophic consequences” for oil markets. On Thursday, Brent crude surged above $112 a barrel, up more than 5 percent. The previous session had seen the KSE-100 rebound 2.85 percent, climbing 4,276 points after volatile trading.
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