KSE-100 remains on losing side as political crisis deepens

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained on the losing side on Wednesday and the KSE-100 Index shed 0.72% owing to rapid deterioration in the country’s political landscape.

High drama was witnessed on the political front with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Asad Umar and Ali Zaidi getting arrested after Imran Khan. Protesters continued to wreak havoc in major cities that impacted trading at the stock market.

At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index settled at 41,074.95 level, a decrease of 298.86 points or 0.72%.

KSE-100 falls over 450 points after Imran Khan’s arrest

Trading began with a plunge but the market regained some ground and remained range-bound till noon. At this point, a buying spree took the market in the green but a selling spell in the final hours made it close with a loss.

Index-heavy automobile, banking, cement, fertiliser and oil sectors saw massive selling.

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX continued to extend losses on Wednesday.

“Indices traded in the red for most part of the day while volumes contracted from last close,” it said. “Rising political unrest due to nationwide protests that erupted as a response to the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan, caused bears to run amok.”

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that another negative session was recorded at the PSX.

“The benchmark KSE-100 index opened in the red, continuing the momentum from the previous close after the arrest of the former prime minister,” it said. “Following the country’s political and economic instability, stocks fell even lower.”

Investor activity has declined significantly, with third-tier companies leading the volume board, the report added.

On the economic front, rupee finished at a record low of 290.22 against the US dollar after depreciating nearly Rs5.38 or 1.9% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday.

Moreover, inflow of overseas workers’ remittances registered a significant decline to clock in at $2.2 billion in April 2023, a decrease of 12.9% on a month-on-month basis.

Sectors pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index towards the red zone included banking (76.37 points), oil and gas exploration (63.61 points) and technology and communication (35.20 points).

Volume on the all-share index plunged to 99.2 million from 203.1 million on Tuesday, while the value of shares traded fell to Rs3.3 billion from Rs5.85 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 14.3 million shares followed by TPL Properties with 6.2 million shares and Bank Al-Falah with 4 million shares.

Shares of 313 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 98 registered an increase, 194 recorded a fall and 21 remained unchanged.