The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a sharp decline on Monday — the first day of trading week.

Massive selling pressure was observed at the market, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 13,000 points in the opening hours amid a sharp rise in oil prices.

The market opened on a negative note and by 9:22am, the benchmark KSE-100 was hovering at 147,715.95, down 9,780.15, or 6.21%, according to Business Recorder.

Following the 6% decline, a Market Halt was triggered, and all equity-based markets were suspended.

“All TRE Certificate Holders are hereby informed that due to a 5% decrease in the KSE-30 index from the previous trading day close of the same, a Market Halt has been triggered as per PSX Regulations and all equity-based markets have been suspended accordingly,” read the notice.

The market resumed trading at 10.22am.

However, selling pressure persisted, and by 10.55am, the KSE-100 declined to 144,386.71, down by 13,109.39 points or 8.32%.

It is important to note that the 100 Index closed at 157,496 points at the end of last week’s trading session.