KSE-100 remains under pressure, falls 0.87% – Markets
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure on Friday with the KSE-100 index falling 0.87% due to political and economic turmoil.
Investors were kept on edge with no development on the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
At Friday’s close, the KSE-100 index declined by 364.14 points or 0.87% to end at 41,329.95.
KSE-100 retreated 0.43% in a weak session
The first session started with an uptrend but selling pressure prevailed in the market in no time and it closed lower. The fall accelerated in the second half and the market closed below the 41,500 mark.
Index-heavy cement, banking, fertilizers and oil sectors closed with losses while automobile sector ended the day on a mixed note. On the other hand, buying activity was seen in Chemicals segment.
A report from Capital Stacks said that the bears ruled the PSX in the last trading session of the week.
A report by Arif Habib Ltd said that “to close the trading week, PSX registered a negative session.”
It added that the market opened in the negative zone but continued to trade in either direction during the opening session as the anticipated SLA agreement between the government and the IMF is long overdue.
The second session began with investors choosing to book profits as the index fell to an intra-day low of 423.28 points due to ongoing political uncertainty and an impending uncertain weekend on both political and economic fronts.
“Investor participation remained subdued, though subdued volumes were observed across the board,” the report said.
On the economic front, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $18 million to $4.32 billion as of March 10, data released on Thursday showed. This was the fifth consecutive increase in the central bank’s reserves on a weekly basis.
The Pakistani rupee witnessed back-to-back gains against the US dollar as it appreciated by Re0.71, or 0.25%, to Rs281.71 in the inter-bank market on Friday.
Sectors erasing KSE-100 index’s gains included technology and communications (104.37 points), fertilizers (71.22 points) and banking (50.07 points).
Volume on the all-share index declined to 172.6 million from 234.7 million on Thursday. The value of traded shares rose to Rs.8 billion from Rs.7.5 billion recorded in the previous session.
HBL was the volume leader with 9.17 million shares, followed by Hascol with 9.15 million shares and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal with 8.3 million shares.
Shares of 313 companies traded on Friday, of which 121 advanced, 171 declined and 21 remained unchanged.
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