KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another bearish session on Monday due to delayed decisions of the government on economic front, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index plummeting 819.14 points (-1.88 percent) to close at 42,667.32 points – the lowest level since December 2020.
The market opened on a sharp negative note and the benchmark index fell by 806.95 points. Within the first half an hour, the index plummeted over 1,100 points. The index trimmed some of the losses of the day before the market closure.
The fall comes a day after Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced that the government is not increasing petrol prices “for now”, going back on an important precondition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the resumption of its loan programme.
He said he would talk to the IMF and find a solution, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “is not in favour of putting this burden [increased oil prices] on people.”
“I had recommended him to increase [petrol] prices but he said people can’t bear it,” the finance minister said. He, however, emphasised that petrol prices could be “adjusted anytime in the future” keeping in view international prices.
Moreover, the continuous depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar also kept the investors at bay and they preferred to go for profit-taking as the previous session was bullish. The Pakistani rupee suffered another massive hit during the day against the dollar and fell to an all-time low in the interbank market at 194.18 against 192.53 a session earlier.
According to market gurus, the government needs to take difficult decisions to bring short-term stability in the market.
The path for the IMF programme needs to be paved immediately by removing subsidies on petroleum products, otherwise it is difficult to restore investor confidence, they said.
They said the monetary policy on May 23 is important for the market, adding: “There are reports of up to 2 percent interest rate in the market. If this happens, the PSX fall will persist.”
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 1,111.07 points, showing an intraday high of 43,486.46 and a low of 42,375.39 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 506 points (-1.71 percent) to close at 29,067.73 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 434.43 points (-2.03 percent) to close at 20,922.27 points.
A total of 351 companies traded shares in the stock exchange compared to 355 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 67 closed up, shares of 269 closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged. Out of 93 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 9 closed up, 81 closed down and three remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 42.33 million to 250.45 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 35.04 million to 135.50 million shares.
The number of total trades increased by 23,344 to 119,299, while the value traded increased by Rs1.94 billion to Rs8.91 billion. Overall market capitalisation decreased by Rs123.18 billion.
Among scrips, LOTCHEM topped the volumes with 18.14 million shares, followed by PRL (18.07 million) and CNERGY (14.17 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included LOTCHEM, PRL, CNERGY, TELE and WTL, which formed around 30 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, SFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs52.89 (+5.8 percent) per share, closing at Rs964.89.
The runner-up remained PRET, the share price of which climbed up by Rs34 (+4.75 percent) to Rs750. RMPL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs660.92 (-6.15 percent) per share, closing at Rs10,089.07, followed by BATA, the share price of which fell by Rs100 (-4.76 percent) to close at Rs2,000 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (172 points), cement (125 points), oil & gas exploration companies (110 points), technology & communication (108 points) and fertilizer (68 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were chemical (59 points), paper & board (5 points) and vanaspati & allied industries (one point).
