The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on Tuesday as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed in the red after the index swayed both ways during the session.
Since start of the session, bulls struggled to gain momentum as the market succumbed to profit-booking.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 63,219.10, down by 86.83 points or 0.14%.
“The equity market concluded on a negative note today, breaking the positive streak of 7 days, as the benchmark index remained volatile throughout the trading session,” brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities stated in its post-market report.
Oil and gas exploration companies, oil and gas marketing companies, and pharmaceuticals sectors were major laggards in Tuesday’s session, the brokerage house said.
On Monday, the KSE-100 Index closed the session 490 points higher as some late-session profit taking trimmed early gains of over 900 points the index had made in the first half on political clarity and anticipation of corporate results.
In a key development, Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s), a global credit rating agency, on Tuesday said Pakistan’s credit rating “would likely be upgraded” if its government’s “liquidity and external vulnerability risks decreased materially and durably”.
The rating agency, in its announcement of the periodic review, also maintained Pakistan’s credit rating unchanged at ‘Caa3’ for long-term issuer rating, with a stable outlook.
“Pakistan’s credit profile reflects the government’s very high liquidity and external vulnerability risks as the very low levels of foreign exchange reserves remain well below what is required to meet its very high external financing needs over the near to medium term,” Moody’s said.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the local unit settled at 279.28, a loss of Re0.08 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 409.96 million from 452.86 million a session ago.
The value of shares decreased to Rs14.67 billion from Rs16.49 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 47.57 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 40.63 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 25.79 million shares.
Shares of 355 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 111 registered an increase, 223 recorded a fall, while 21 remained unchanged.
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