Bears rule PSX, KSE-100 bleeds over 1,000 points

Bears continue to rule the roost at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped over 1,000 points at the first trading of the week on Monday.

At the time of filing this report, the index was being traded at 38,811.50 points showing a drop of 1076.50 points and a percentage change of negative 2.7 percent.

HASCOL was the top traded company with a volume of 16,913,653 and was being traded at Rs 13.88 showing a change of -1.01. Pakistan International Bulk Terminal was second on the list with 11,099,000 shares, and was being traded at Rs 12.06 witnessing a drop of 0.42, whereas, UNITY was third on the list with 10,095,000 shares trading, with a share being traded for Rs 22.38a decline by 0.52.

PSX bearish trend continues after taking a beating on the last day of the previous trading week as the benchmark KSE 100 Index shredded more than 1,200 points, under selling pressure. PSX witnessed declining trend during the outgoing week ended on Oct 29, due to heavy selling in various sectors.

KSE-100 index plunged by 1,378.00 points on week-on-week basis and closed below 40,000 level at 39,888.00 points. Average daily trading volumes on ready counter slightly improved by 0.9 percent and stood at 469.60 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 465.61 million shares. Average daily trading value on the ready counter increased by 19.1 percent and stood at Rs 18.86 billion.

Meanwhile, on the international front, the global outlook is also dimming as many Western countries battle still rising COVID-19 infections and go back into virus lockdowns.

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 500,000 last week with Europe crossing the bleak milestone of 10 million total infections. The United Kingdom is grappling with more than 20,000 new cases a day while a record surge of U.S. cases is killing up to 1,000 people a day.

Fresh coronavirus-induced lockdowns have raised concerns over the outlook for fuel consumption, sending Brent crude to a low of $35.74 per barrel, a level not seen since late May. U.S. crude went as low as $33.64.