Bears took control of the Pakistan Stock Exchange as the benchmark index, KSE-100, lost over 1,600 points during intra-day trading on Monday.
The market had a frantic sell-off during the early trading hours, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 1,608 points in intraday trading.
The KSE-100 index initially opened on a negative note and stayed in a red zone throughout the day. At the end of the day, KSE-100 was closed at 43,393 points, down by 1,447 points or 3.23 percent.
Trade screens turned red at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on the first session of the week. Indices slipped lower and lower all day long while volumes appreciated from the last close.
The investors opted to offload their position due to the falling foreign reserves and delay in the International Monetary Funds program.
JS Global’s Assistant Vice President, Muhammad Waqas Ghani, told ProPakistani, “The market was already in red when trading session started and dropped 1,475 points primarily owing to uncertainty regarding the resumption of the IMF program, depleting foreign exchange reserves due to loan repayments, and elevated commodity prices triggering inflation.”
He added that the market seemingly will remain under pressure until clarity emerges on the economic front. The forex market has also remained under pressure with PKR/USD trading at 187.8 in the interbank as per the last update.
Talking to ProPakistani regarding the market position, CEO of Alpha Beta Core, Khurram Schehzad, commented that the incumbent government continuing the petroleum subsidy along with no development on the immediate funding and oil facility from the Saudi and UAE sides and uncertainty on the IMF front has the investors worried regarding the macro outlook of the country.
According to Capital Stake, the equity markets around the globe showed a negative trend. Crude oil prices moved south with WTI crude oil price falling by 2.47% to $107.07 while Brent crude oil price was down by 2.26% to $109.83 (As of 4:10 PM).
Around 305.01 million shares were traded at the exchange, with 310 of the 368 active scrips declining in value, only 44 advancing and 14 remaining unchanged.
Sectors pulling the benchmark KSE-100 index lower included the Banking sector (305.05 pts), the Cement sector (237.04 pts) and Technology and Communication sector (183.19 pts). Company-wise, Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK 118.22 pts), Systems Limited (SYS 109.91 pts) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL 75.79 pts) were top negative contributors.
Top Volume
| SCRIP | PRICE | HIGH | LOW | CHANGE | VOLUME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOTCHEM | 25.20 | 26.50 | 23.05 | 0.74 | 27,005,500 |
| CNERGY | 5.56 | 6.08 | 5.40 | -0.55 | 23,858,892 |
| WTL | 1.57 | 1.67 | 1.56 | -0.10 | 20,975,000 |
| TELE | 11.85 | 12.65 | 11.78 | -0.93 | 11,495,500 |
| GGL | 17.61 | 18.98 | 17.61 | -1.42 | 10,608,500 |
| UNITY | 23.12 | 24.45 | 22.60 | -1.19 | 9,347,397 |
| HUMNL | 6.64 | 7.50 | 6.45 | -0.80 | 9,200,000 |
