KSE-100 down 0.9% amid political noise

Uncertainty persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, as investors remain wary amid political noise, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 Index down 0.90% during the trading session.

Stocks extended losses from the previous session as investors preferred to sell their belongings amid heightened political uncertainty, which pushed the indices to an intraday low of 42,782.52 or 484.45 points.

At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with a drop of 388.62 points or 0.90% to settle at 42,878.35.

This comes after the opposition on Tuesday submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly Secretariat.

Sectors dragging the benchmark index lower included banking (86.77 points), cement (68.47 points) and oil and gas exploration (62.81 points).

The development comes a day after the PSX witnessed a bloodbath, as the benchmark index plummeted nearly 1,300 points or 2.88% to settle at 43,266.97.

“After a sideways, opening market juggled between range bound territory, in the second half the market witnessed selling pressure as the opposition submits a no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan in the national assembly,” said Topline Securities in its post-market comment.

On the economic front, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said it will keep the interest rate unchanged at 9.75%.

It said that the status quo reflects MPC’s view that the outlook for inflation has improved following the cuts in fuel prices and electricity tariffs announced last week, as part of the government’s relief package.

On the corporate front, TPL Trakker in its filing to the PSX announced that it has partnered with Telenor Pakistan to exclusively provide state of the art IoT solutions and services to strengthen domestic connectivity infrastructure in Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index decreased marginally to 226.11 million from 236.88 million on Monday. The value of shares traded also declined to Rs7.12 billion from Rs8.21 billion recorded in the previous session.

TPL Corporation Limited was the volume leader with 17.36 million shares, followed by Unity Foods Limited with 17.19 million shares, and Ghani Global Holdings with 16.90 million shares.

Shares of 343 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 102 registered an increase, 223 recorded a fall, and 18 remained unchanged.