Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 settled below the 114,000 level, losing over 650 points on Thursday.
The market opened on a positive note, with the benchmark index hitting an intra-day high of 114,884.63. However, selling pressure soon returned, dragging the KSE-100 to an intra-day low of 113,630.45.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 113,836.74, a decrease of 658.96 points or 0.58%.
Across-the-board selling was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including PRL, PSO, SSGC, SNGPL, OGDC, PPL, ENGRO, MEBL and UBL ended in the red.
Market experts noted that investors are keeping a close eye on the local political situation, as negotiations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led (PML-N) team and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) continue.
Whereas, “some are concerned that the buildup of SBP’s forex reserves has slowed,” said Intermarket Securities in a note.
On Wednesday, PSX witnessed a mixed trend and remained oscillating in positive and negative zones before closing in the red, after three consecutive positive sessions, as investors opted to offload their holdings on available margins.
The KSE-100 Index declined by 308.46 points or 0.27% and closed at 114,495.71 points.
Globally, Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Thursday and the dollar was soft as easing core U.S. inflation kept potential rate cuts by the Federal Reserve on the table, while the yen rose to a one-month high on rate hike bets.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.4%.
China’s blue-chip stocks rose 0.67% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.5%.
Investor focus has centred on President-elect Donald Trump’s policies as he returns to the White House on Monday, with recent media reports of a gradual implementation of tariffs by the new administration easing some worries.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.86 after a loss of Re0.09 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 469.44 million from 659.43 million on Wednesday.
The value of shares declined to Rs24.98 billion from Rs39.64 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 103.7 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 37.11 million shares, and Dewan Motors with 19.33 million shares.
Shares of 464 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 137 registered an increase, 268 recorded a fall, while 59 remained unchanged.
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