KSE-100 sees bloodbath, down 771 points on lack of positive triggers

Negativity persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark index fell another 770.54 points to close below the 47,500 level on Monday.

At close, the index settled at 47,447.96, a decrease of 770.54 points or 1.6%, after witnessing a fall on Friday as well.

KSE-100 loses over 100 points amid lack of triggers

Across-the-board selling continued with index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs trading in the red.

During the last week, the benchmark index declined by 205.90 points on a week-on-week basis and closed at 48,218.50.

Experts attributed the decline in the KSE-100 Index to a rise in political uncertainty.

On Sunday, in a shocking and troubling revelation, President Dr Arif Alvi said that he “did not sign the Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023” because he disagreed with these laws. The president claimed that the staff undermined his “command and will.”

The Ministry of Law & Justice later expressed grave concern over President Alvi’s statement.

“Additionally, current account deficit figures are also playing on the minds of market players,” Sana Tawfik, an analyst at Arif Habib Limited (AHL), told Business Recorder.

After reporting a surplus for four successive months, Pakistan’s current account posted a deficit of $809 million in July, the highest since October 2022, showed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.

Meanwhile, an expert shared that there are rumours circulating suggesting that the SBP will hold an emergent MPC meeting and hike the key policy rate further.

Capital Stake, a brokerage house, in its report, said political uncertainty paired with the significant current account deficit in July shattered confidence.

On the economic front, the Pakistani rupee remained under pressure against the US dollar, as the currency depreciated 0.45% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the rupee settled at 297.13, a decrease of Rs1.35, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 211.2 million from 254.8 million on Friday.

The value of shares declined to Rs7.1 billion from Rs10.4 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 51.4 million shares, followed by K-Electric Limited with 8.4 million shares and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited with 7.3 million shares.

Shares of 323 companies were traded on Monday, of which 50 registered an increase, 253 recorded a fall, and 20 remained unchanged.