KSE-100 suffers 1.74% fall, finishes below 45,000

The stock market saw another massive fall with the benchmark KSE-100 Index dropping below the 45,000 level after losing close to 800 points as volumes inched up during the trading session on Tuesday.

The KSE-100 Index remained in the negative for a majority part of the session, losing as much as 863.85 points in intra-day trading, hitting a low of 44,881.11.

At close on Tuesday, the KSE-100 Index ended with a sharp fall of 796.48 points or 1.74% to settle at 44,948.52.

Pakistan’s benchmark lending rates also raised further with 1yr Kibor crossing 11% after 19 months, shared CEO Topline Securities, Mohammed Sohail, in a tweet post.

“Probably one of the toughest IMF programs with so many Prior Actions,” said Sohail, while adding that more conditions are likely for monetary and fiscal tightening.

On the other hand, TRG Pakistan continued to take a hit as the share price fell to Rs88.35.

“The stock of TRG Pakistan has hit 5 consecutive floors post sexual harassment allegations of Tatiana Spottiswoode on Zia Chishti. However, with Zia Chishti’s resignation and the current announcement of special investigation committee, Afiniti has started taking actions, which would bode well for company reputation and investor confidence,” said Ismail Iqbal Securities in its note.

KSE-100 plummets 744 points as market sees further increase in interest rate

On the economic front, Pakistan incurred foreign debt of $3.898 billion from multiple financing sources in the first four months (July-October) of 2021-22 including $866.43 million from foreign commercial banks (22 percent) against the total budgeted external loans of $14.088 billion for the entire fiscal year.

Sectors dragging the benchmark index lower included technology and communication (169.95 points), cement (152.00 points), and banking (93.13 points).

Meanwhile, volumes on the all-share index increased, clocking in at 264.61 million, up from 261.90 million recorded on Monday. The value of shares traded declined marginally, amounting to Rs9.73 billion, down from Rs10.94 billion on Monday.

TRG Pakistan Limited was the volume leader with 19.63 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 17.17 million shares, and Byco Petroleum at 13.76 million shares.

Shares of 358 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 49 registered an increase, 297 recorded a fall, and 12 remained unchanged.