Bears ran riot at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) today, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing over 1,700 points in intraday trade amid the Pakistani Rupee’s gut-wrenching slump below 300 this week.
The benchmark KSE-100 index appeared bearish from the opening bell and immediately dropped into the red zone, losing 700+ points after trading resumed on Thursday.
In a brief market review, Topline CEO Mohammed Sohail said the current slump in stocks was due to the nonstop fall in the value of PKR.
The top index lost 1,784 points, or 3.72 percent, to plummet below 45,000 points to 44,459 at 2:52 PM.
The KSE-100 was down by 3.59 percent or 1,661 points at 44,582.9 level with a turnover of 125,151,879 shares at 3:02 PM.
Losing 1,784 points in the session, the benchmark KSE 100 index recorded an intraday low of 44,459. The index suspended movement by -1,242 points at 45,002. The KMI 30 index slid by 1,961 points closing at 74,969, meanwhile the KSE All share index plunged by 777 points settling at 30,041.
Economic analyst A H H Soomro told ProPakistani,
It’s a reflection of investor pessimism over continuous rupee slide and fuel price hike. A decisive action is required to control open market now by curbing grey market. People are fearing further interest rate hike which will complicate situation further on the government’s fiscal side. A week from today, expectations of Muhammad Bin Salman’s visit on Reko Diq and refinery will change sentiments.
Sectors such as technology, automobile, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration businesses, and OMCs trading in the negative experienced heavy selling.
Companies that dragged the index lower included United Bank Limited (UBL), Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL), Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL), Lucky Cement (LUCK), and Mari Petroleum (MARI).
Of the 315 scrips traded, 38 advanced, 258 declined and 19 remained unchanged.
Today’s losses come after investors reacted to Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar’s remarks in Wednesday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue. Without mincing any words, she said that every conceivable effort had been directed towards undermining the economy. “Unfortunately, no effort has been spared to destroy the economy,” she lamented, painting a grim picture of the challenges faced by the caretaker setup.
A few analysts have pointed out that the Finance Minister’s remarks, coupled with the rupee’s historic decline and expectations of a massive 2-3 percent interest rate hike by the State Bank of Pakistan aggravated today’s selling spree at the benchmark KSE-100 index.
On Wednesday, the PKR/$ at interbank crashed to 304, while open market and black rates plummeted to as low as 312 and 325, respectively.
Top Volumes
SCRIP PRICE HIGH LOW CHANGE VOLUME
WTL 1.15 1.18 1.12 -0.04 31,865,077
OGDC 93.9 96.23 88.1 -1.3 17,487,182
CNERGY 2.87 2.99 2.6 -0.13 13,079,846
PPL 66.2 70.44 64.4 -3.57 12,261,466
PRL 13.5 14.6 13.45 -0.99 12,260,534
UNITY 22.64 23.78 21.5 -0.09 10,090,857
SEARLR2 2.32 2.32 2.03 1.0 7,527,119
Overall, equity markets across the globe were trending upward. Crude oil prices rose, with WTI crude oil rising 0.55 percent to $82.08, while the price of Brent crude oil increased by 0.52 percent to $86.31 at 3:35 PM.
Source: Pro Pakistani