What happened
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index remained under pressure on Thursday, 29 January 2026, closing in the red at 182,338.12 points, a sharp slip of 6,042.26 points, or 3.21 per cent, from its previous close of 188,380.38, Dawn reported. Trading activity hit a volume of 413.82 million shares and a total traded value of Rs52.45 billion.
The fall was broad. All commercial banks, fertiliser, automobile assemblers, close-end mutual funds, leather and tanneries, oil and gas exploration companies, synthetic and rayon companies, tobacco, transportation, vanaspati and allied industries, along with woolen industries, were trading in the red.
Why the market fell
Maaz Mulla, vice president of equity sales at Topline Securities, attributed the decline primarily to Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited’s result, which he said disappointed the market because earnings came in below industry expectations on lower-than-anticipated gross margins. Mulla also noted that market rumours had built expectations of a stock split or bonus announcement that did not materialise.
He said the “mismatch between expectations and outcomes led to panic selling, prompting investors to book recent gains and intensifying the sell-off”. Among the top decliners, Kohinoor Power Company Limited dropped to Rs44.60, Said Textile Mills Limited fell to Rs36.61, and Kohinoor Industries Limited slid to Rs63.06.
Regional backdrop
The selling came amid rising geopolitical tensions. Reuters reported that oil prices rose 1.5 per cent on Thursday, extending gains for a third day, on increasing concerns that the United States may carry out a military attack on Iran that could disrupt supply from the region. The earlier close of 188,380.38 had been only marginally higher, and the scale of the one-day drop underlined how quickly sentiment turned against a market that had run up strongly in the preceding weeks.
Why it matters
The index gave up more than 6,000 points in a single session, erasing a large share of its recent gains and turning the market’s attention from momentum to valuation and earnings risk. For investors, the session was a reminder that expectations of corporate actions such as bonus issues can move prices sharply when they are not met, while the fertiliser sector’s results became the immediate trigger for the sell-off.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 30 January 2026.
- Dawn — KSE-100 sheds over 6,000 pointsPublished 29 January 2026 · Contemporaneous market report carrying the closing level, point and percentage fall, trading volume and value, the list of declining sectors, analyst Maaz Mulla's comments and the Reuters oil-price detail.
