Pakistan's stocks suffer worst month since pandemic-driven selloff in March 2020

Pakistan stock market's benchmark KSE-100 Index ended the last day of September on a high, but still endured its worst month since the pandemic-driven bloodbath in March 2020 as economic sentiment was weighed down by currency depreciation, geopolitical concerns, and the widening current account deficit.

The KSE-100, in absolute terms, lost 5.3% during September, a fall translating to 2,513 points. The decrease is the highest on a monthly basis since March 2020, when the index plummeted nearly 26% in a pandemic-induced selloff that saw the KSE-100 retreat to levels around 27,000.

On Thursday, however, stocks bounced back, registering a drastic increase in the final hour of trading, erasing losses of near 250 points, and finishing with an overall gain of 1.2%.

At close, the benchmark index settled higher by 532.86 points or 1.20% to close September at 44,899.60.

“The KSE-100 index was down by 5.2% during 1QFY22 (July- September) after posting a positive return during last the last five quarters,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a closing note.

“Investors of the benchmark equity bourse could not find balance this month with the global economy struggling to combat the unprecedented sharp jump in commodity prices. Pakistan too, displayed its highest-ever trade deficit for the month Aug'21 at Rs6.3bn. With this, the local currency kept sliding during the month, touching its all-time low level of over 170 against the USD.

“Meanwhile, a republican bill draft caused anxiety due to concerns on foreign policy front where the US might announce sanctions on Taliban,” it added.

KSE-100 suffers one of 2021's worst falls

On September 29, the KSE-100 suffered one of its worst falls (on a daily basis) of the calendar year, losing 2.01% or 908 points to end near 44,300, on Wednesday.

However, bulls returned a day later with sectors like banking (146.68 points), cement (141.34 points) and oil and gas exploration (90.41 points) adding to the KSE-100's gains.

Volume on the all-share index, however, decreased from 468.76 million on Wednesday to 372.43 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded also declined significantly during the session, amounting to Rs13.7 billion from Rs16.4 billion on Wednesday.

K-Electric Limited was the volume leader with 32.48 million shares, followed by Byco Petroleum with 29.76 million shares, and Azgard Nine with 20.82 million shares.

Shares of 557 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 385 registered an increase, 157 recorded a fall, while 15 remained unchanged.