PSX bleeds after Trump's truce with Iran 'over' statement rattles markets

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) suffered a sharp sell-off on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump’s statement declaring the interim agreement with Iran "over" rattled investor sentiment, dragging the benchmark index lower.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged 6,449.34 points, or 3.46%, to 179,806.21 points from the previous close of 186,255.55, reflecting broad-based losses across the market as investors reacted to the latest development.

“The statement by President Trump about the ceasefire effectively over has spooked oil and equity markets. The reaction to that can be witnessed in the market with shares coming f off violently from their recent highs,” Ismail Iqbal Securities CEO Ahfaz Mustafa told Geo.tv.

Meanwhile, oil surged by more than 5% on Wednesday and global stocks and bond prices tumbled, as investors fled risk assets after US President Trump's statement. 

Trump, who was speaking in Ankara ahead of a NATO summit in the Turkish capital, added that he did not want to engage with Tehran. "As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them," he said.

European shares dropped 1.6%, on track for the biggest one-day drop in the STOXX 600 since mid-March, while US futures ESc1, NQc1STXEc1 fell 0.8% to 1.2%.

The VIX volatility index jumped nearly 13% in its largest one-day rise in over a month, although it was still below the highs in March.

The stock market has already been under some pressure in the last couple of weeks, as investors are increasingly questioning the valuations of some of this year's high-flying semiconductor and AI-linked stocks.

— Additional input from Reuters