Pakistan stocks plummet on surging global oil prices, PM’s speech criticizing EU

KARACHI: Pakistan’s equities witnessed a bearish trend on Monday as KSE 100 index declined by 2.9 percent due to global oil prices and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech wherein he criticized the European Union for asking his government to condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine, traders and analysts said. 
KSE 100 index closed the trading at 43,259.86 after shedding 1,291 points or 2.9 percent mainly due to panic selling after Brent Crude moved above $123.9 per barrel against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine. 
The Pakistani prime minister also responded to a letter written by European Union representatives in which they asked Islamabad to condemn Russia’s “unprovoked attack,” asking them if they had written a similar letter to India as well. 
“Pakistan’s equity market opened on a negative note mainly due to the oil prices and the speech of PM Khan,” Muhammad Sohail, chief executive officer of Topline Securities, told Arab News. 
Pakistani analysts urged the government not to take sides in the ongoing war in Eastern Europe and focus on its own economic interests. 
“We should be careful while making speeches or siding with any country,” Khurram Schehzad, chief executive officer of Alpha Beta Core, a financial advisory firm, told Arab News. “Economic interest should supersede everything else.” 
Brent Crude, which was trading above $130 per barrel in the morning session, had declined to $123.9 per barrel with gain of 4.86 percent in the international market by the evening. The crude is continuously increasing since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022. 
“Brent Crude on Monday morning was trading at about $135 per barrel which is the highest level since 2008,” Samiullah Tariq, director research at the Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company, told Arab News. 
“Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, commodity prices have come under pressure,” he added. “The commodities are trading at a higher level with upward pressure.”