Bears ran riot at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) today as equities witnessed a panic-struck sell-off on Monday amid severe political and economic turmoil.
The benchmark KSE-100 index appeared bearish from the opening bell and immediately dropped into the red zone, losing 770+ points after trading resumed on Monday.
The top index lost 780 points, or 1.7 percent, to plummet below 47,440 points to 39,849 at 3:25 PM.
Gaining 12 points initially, the benchmark KSE 100 index recorded an intraday high of 48,230. Shortly after, it plunged to a day’s low of 47,437. The index settled lower by 770.54 points at 47,447.95. The KMI 30 index lost 1083.14 points settling at 80,052.37 points. Meanwhile, the KSE All Share index went down by 459.17 points closing at 31,499.58.
The market is under considerable pressure primarily in the first full week of the caretaker government’s tenure, owing largely to political uncertainty in the country and aggravating economic indicators. Economic and political tensions have impacted investor confidence to a certain degree today which is reflected in reduced market volumes at day’s end. Selling by institutional investors was observed due to the first current account deficit (CAD) in 4 months.
The State Bank of Pakistan stated last week that the current account deficit (CAD) decreased by 36% in July FY24 to $809 million, compared to $1.261 billion in the same month the previous fiscal year.
Overall, investors opted to offload their positions in an environment of higher uncertainty and below-par business confidence during trading hours,. The index is under pressure after President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday administered the oath of office to members of the newly appointed caretaker federal cabinet.
Top Volumes
SCRIP PRICE HIGH LOW CHANGE VOLUME
WTL 1.28 1.36 1.27 0.02 51,424,053
KEL 2.22 2.34 2.2 0.05 8,423,086
OGDC 96.27 98.99 96.01 -2.85 7,312,226
PRL 15.65 16.29 15.52 -0.57 6,214,957
PPL 74.4 76.3 74.16 -1.72 6,101,632
PABC 54.0 55.5 52.5 0.78 5,752,943
NPL 24.22 26.79 24.22 -1.96 5,714,509
Top contributors to the volume chart were Worldcall Telecom Limited, K-Electric Limited, and Oil and Gas Development Company. The scrips had 51.4 million shares, 8.42 million shares, and 7.31 million shares traded, respectively.
Overall, equity markets across the globe were trending downward. Crude oil prices rose, with WTI crude oil rising 1.11 percent to $82.15, while the price of Brent crude oil increased by 0.78 percent to $85.46.
Source: Pro Pakistani