Pakistan Stock Exchange Remains Volatile Amid US-Iran Conflict Uncertainty
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained volatile during the outgoing week due to uncertainty over the US-Iran conflict, which kept oil prices elevated and weighed on investor sentiment.
Despite hopes of progress in US-Iran talks and softer oil prices early in the week, renewed geopolitical concerns and rising oil prices subsequently reversed those gains.
The KSE-100 index closed largely flat at 170,765 points, down 120 points or 0.1% from the previous week's close of 170,885 points.
A major development was the signing of upgrade agreements by four of Pakistan's oil refineries - Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL), National Refinery Ltd (NRL) and Cnergyico PK. The agreements, signed with Inter State Gas Systems (Pvt) Ltd under the Pakistan Oil Refining Policy for Upgradation of Existing/Brownfield Refineries, envisage around $5 billion in investment over the next five years.