KSE-100 falls 0.75% after reports say Dar has pulled out of US visit

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a muted session on Friday and the KSE-100 Index fell 0.75% as reports that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has pulled out of his visit to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings shattered investor sentiment.

Talks on resumption of the stalled IMF programme were expected from the visit and hence, the sudden cancellation impacted trading at the PSX.

At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 40,049.65, a decrease of 301.24 points or 0.75%.

Bullish run at bourse, KSE-100 up over 633 points

Trading began upward but selling pressure emerged that erased the gain. The market fell steadily for the rest of the day and closed with a loss.

Automobile, cement, chemical, banking and oil sectors saw a selloff and closed in the red.

A report from Capital Stake stated that bears conquered the PSX on last trading session of the week.

“Indices plunged shortly after starting out on a positive note whereas volumes fell from last close,” it said. “The news that Saudi Arabia had conveyed its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its bilateral financial support to Pakistan failed to cheer investors.”

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the week closed in the red. “KSE-100 index opened positive but couldn’t sustain its gain after the news flash regarding finance minister cancelling the visit to US for negotiations with IMF ignited negativity in the market and index stumbled down by 301.2 points to close the week in red,” it said.

“Main board volumes continue to remain sluggish whereas third tier stock led the board,” it said.

On the economic front, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased $36 million, clocking in at $4.21 billion as of March 31. The overall number stands at a critical level at around a month of import cover.

Sectors pushing the benchmark KSE-100 lower included, oil and gas exploration (96.74 points), fertiliser (56.69 points) and technology and communications (29.76 points).

Volume on the all-share index dropped to 135.1 million from 171.4 million on Thursday while the value of shares traded fell to Rs3.2 billion from Rs5.1 billion recorded in the previous session.

JS Bank was the volume leader with 26.2 million shares followed by WorldCall Telecom with 13.1 million shares and Silk Bank Limited with 10.2 million shares.

Shares of 301 companies were traded on Friday, of which 90 registered an increase, 188 recorded a fall and 23 remained unchanged.