The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a tumultuous session on Thursday as the KSE-100 index took a U-turn to end with a 0.6% loss.
Rumours stating that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would hold an emergency meeting to change the interest rate struck investor sentiment at the equity market and they resorted to offloading their holdings.
By the end of the trading session, the benchmark index was down 248.21 points or 0.6% to close at 41,078.65.
KSE-100 recovers some losses, up 0.43%
Recent macroeconomic developments have enhanced expectations of an emergency SBP meeting. Market expects the central bank to hike the interest rate.
Trading began with a jump but the KSE-100 index remained in a narrow range for most part of the session. A selling spree, towards the end, dragged it lower.
A report from Capital Stake stated that bears came roaring back at the PSX on Thursday.
“Indices swayed both ways until finally settling in red. Volumes appreciated from previous close,” it said.
A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that a range bound session was witnessed at PSX.
“The KSE-100 index opened in green, but rumors of emergent policy meeting kept the index choppy and traded in narrow range throughout the day as investor participation remained sluggish, however in the last trading hour profit selling were observed across the board which led the index to close in the red.”
Decent volumes were recorded across the board.
On the economic front, the government of Pakistan raised petrol prices by Rs22.20 to Rs272. Base price surged by Rs28.11 to Rs205.58 (76% of total cost).
Moreover, rupee recovered Re1 or 0.38% against the US dollar to end the session at Rs264.38.
Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE-100 index lower included oil and gas exploration sector (106.35 points), cement sector (45.12 points) and power generation and distribution sector (24.58 points).
Volume on the all-share index rose to 141.9 million from 137.4 million on Wednesday. The value of shares rose to Rs7.4 billion from Rs6.1 billion recorded in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 13.5 million shares followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 11.7 million shares and Meezan Bank with 7.2 million shares.
Shares of 320 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 90 registered an increase, 203 recorded a fall and 27 remained unchanged.
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