Global Stock Exchanges - KSE-100 loses over 500 points in pre-budget session.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Pakistan Stock Exchange received a battering on Friday ahead of the presentation of federal budget for FY21. The benchmark KSE-100 index snapped its five-day winning streak as the market faced panic selling and lost a significant 517 points to below 35,000-point mark. Slump in global crude oil prices and sell-off in world equities weighed on investors' sentiment. Furthermore, concern over the budget announcement later in the day pushed investors to offload their stockholdings across the board.

At the beginning of trading, the market dived and the index sank to intra-day low of over 600 points with investors...